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WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


33b Sara Ware 33aasett 
The Invention Series 
Paul and the Printing Press 
Steve and the Steam Engine 
Ted and the Telephone 
Walter and the Wireless 




















































' 
















M K Y¥ Chicago, Illinois. Stand by fifteen minutes 
for- frontispiece. See page 208. 


-V h 

















®t)e Snbention Series 


WALTER AND 
THE WIRELESS 

BY 

SARA WARE BASSETT 

w 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
WILLIAM F. STECHER 



BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
1923 















Copyright, 1928, 

By Little, Brown, and Company. 
All rights reserved 


Published March, 1923 



Printed in tiie United States of America 


M/iff 


14 






PAUL MARBLE 

AND HIS COLLIE BOBS, 
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY 
DEDICATED 


t 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PA01 

I His Highness . i 

II The New Job.17 

III What Worried Mrs. King.36 

IV Walter Makes His Bow to His Employer 50 

V The Conquest of Achilles.64 

VI His Highness in a New Role .... 75 

VII The Pursuit of Lola.92 

VIII A Blunder and What Came of It . . . 104 

IX More Clues.116 

X Bob.127 

XI The Decision.138 

XII Lessons.147 

XIII Information from a New Source . . . 162 

XIV Bob as Pedagogue.169 

XV Tidings.183 

XVI Miracles.197 

XVII The Laws of the Air.210 

XVIII The Net Tightens.228 

XIX Walter Steps into the Breach .... 238 

XX The Return of the Wanderers . . . 248 
















LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


“KYW Chicago, Illinois. Stand by fifteen min¬ 
utes for -”. Frontispiece 

PAGE 

The two boys would discuss boats, fishing, and 

KINDRED INTERESTS. 76 

“You WILL GET ALL THE WIRELESS COMING TO YOU, 

that’s all. Take it from me”. 154 

Clearly and evenly the message ticked itself off. 

Then there was silence. 240 







WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


CHAPTER I 

HIS HIGHNESS 

His Highness came by the nickname honestly 
enough and yet those who heard it for the first time 
had difficulty in repressing a smile at the incon¬ 
gruity of the title. In fact perhaps no term could 
have been found that would have been less appro¬ 
priate. For Walter King possessed neither dignity 
of rank nor of stature. On the contrary he was a 
short, snub-nosed boy of fifteen, the epitome of 
good humor and democracy. 

His hair was red and towsled, his face spangled 
with great golden freckles which sea winds and 
sunshine had multiplied until there was scarce 
room for another on his beaming countenance. 
Hands and arms were freckled too, for when one 
lives in a bathing suit six months of the year and 
is either in the water or on it most of the time 
the skin fails to retain its pristine whiteness of hue. 
But His Highness did not care a fig for that. He 
was far too busy baiting eel and lobster traps, 
mending fish nets, untangling lines, and painting 
boats to give a thought to his personal beauty. 


2 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

Indeed his mother often bewailed the fact that 
he was not more interested in his appearance and 
there were times when it seemed as if she were 
right. Certainly when her son ambled home at 
dusk with every rebellious hair standing upended 
upon his head and a string of flounders dripping 
salt from the tips of their slimy tails she was justi¬ 
fied to a degree in wishing he had more regard for 
the niceties of life. 

“ Look at the mess you’re making! ” she would 
pipe indignantly. “ I’ve just mopped this floor, 
Walter.” 

“ You have? Now isn’t that the dickens! Well, 
no matter, Ma; I’ll swab the place down again 
when I’ve finished cleaning these fish. They’re 
beauties, aren’t they? A batch of them fried won’t 
go bad for supper to-night. I’m hungry as a bear. 
Shouldn’t think I’d eaten anything in ten years. 
Say, Ma, what do you s’pose? Dave Corbett was 
out in the Nancy three hours and never got a bite. 
What do you think of that? The wind died down, 
his engine got stalled, and he and Hosey Talbot 
had to row home from the Bell Reef Shoals. Haw, 
haw! Maybe I didn’t roar when I saw them come 
pulling in against the tide, mad as two man-eating 
sharks. Fit to harpoon the first person they met, 
they were. I sung out and asked them were they 
practicing for the Harvard and Yale boat race and 
Dave was that peeved he shied an oarlock after me. 
Haw, haw, haw! ” 

“ You ought not to provoke Dave, Walter.” 

“ Provoke him? But he was provoked already, 


HIS HIGHNESS 3 

Ma. There’s no harm putting an extra stick on the 
fire when it’s burning, anyhow. Besides, Dave is 
never in earnest when he bawls me out. He just 
likes to hear himself scold.” 

“ He has a terrible temper.” 

“ Oh, I know half the town is scart to death of 
him. But he always will take a jolly from me. We 
understand each other, Dave and I. Say, Ma, these 
rubber boots leak. Did you know that? Yes, siree! 
They leak like sieves. I might as well be without 
’em.” 

Mrs. King sighed. 

“ I don’t see,” murmured she, “ how you manage 
to go through everything you have so quickly, 
Walter. Nothing you wear lasts you more than a 
week.” 

“ Oh, I say, make it a month. Do, now!” 

He saw his mother smile faintly. 

“ Well, a month then.” 

“ You couldn’t stretch it to two? ” 

“ Not possibly. Four weeks seems to be your 
limit.” 

The sharpness of her tone, however, had weak¬ 
ened. 

“ Four weeks, eh? I did think I’d had these rub¬ 
ber boots longer than that. It is amazing how at¬ 
tached you can get to things even in a little while.” 

Holding aloft the knife with which he was pre¬ 
paring to behead the unlucky flounders, His 
Highness gazed reflectively down at his feet. 

“ It’s awful that I have to keep having so many 
things, isn’t it? I hate to be costing you money 


4 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

all the time. Now if you’d only let me ship for the 
Grand Banks when the Katie B. goes out-” 

“Walter! What is the use of digging up that 
old bone again? I never shall let you ship for the 
Grand Banks or any other Banks so long as I live. 
We’ve had this out hundreds of times before. You 
know you and Bob are all I’ve got in the world. 
Do you suppose I want you lost in a fog and never 
heard from again? ” 

“Oh, Great Scott, Ma! They don’t lose fish¬ 
ing boats now as they used to. They carry wireless, 
and the fleet keeps in touch every minute.” 

“ The dories have no wireless aboard them,” ob¬ 
served Mrs. King grimly. 

“ I suppose not, no, probably they don’t,” His 
Highness admitted reluctantly. 

“ Anyway, wireless or no wireless, you are not 
going on a fishing cruise to the Grand Banks.” 

“ I hear you, Ma,” grinned the boy. 

“ There is plenty of work right here on the 
land if you’re looking for it. Why must you al¬ 
ways be wanting to go to sea to earn money? ” 

“ Faith, Mother, I don’t know,” laughed 
Walter. “ I expect it’s because I see chores to do 
when I’m afloat that I can’t see ashore. It is the 
way I was born.” 

“ A poor way.” 

“ Maybe it is. At any rate I can’t help it.” 

“ I’m afraid you do not try to help it very hard.” 

The lad shrugged his shoulders. 

“ There’s that chance you have to hire out at the 
Crowninshields’ for the summer.” 



HIS HIGHNESS 5 

“ Those snobs.” 

“ Beggars cannot be choosers. Besides, they may 
not be snobs at all. What makes you think they 
are?” 

“ Oh, I don’t mind the lugs they put on,” pro¬ 
tested Walter, evading the issue. “ I suppose all 
New York swells do that. It’s what they want me 
for that gets my goat.” Again the knife he held 
was tragically upraised. “ How would you like 
to be nursemaid to six or eight brainless little pups 
no bigger than rats? Not but what I like dogs. 
I’d like nothing better than to own a fine dog of 
some spirit. But those imitations! Why, before 
a week was out, I’d have their necks wrung.” 

“ Mr. Crowninshield promised to pay you well.” 

“ What’s money if all the kids in town are going 
to josh you?” 

“ Money is a good deal when you need it.” His 
mother shook her head gravely. “ Have you ever 
considered how badly we are in want of money, 
Walter?” 

“ What do you mean, Ma? ” The boy wheeled 
about, startled. 

“ I haven’t said anything about it, dear, because 
I could not bear to have you boys bothered,” was 
the quiet answer. “ But lately things have not been 
going well and I have been pretty much worried. 
The money your Uncle Henry invested for us isn’t 
paying any dividends; there seems to be something 
the matter with the company’s affairs. As for your 
Uncle Mark Miller, I’ve heard nothing from him 
in months. His ship was to put in at Shanghai for 


6 


WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


cargo and I ought to have had a letter by now; 
but none has come and I am afraid something must 
be the trouble. He is a good brother and never 
fails to send me money. I can ill afford to be with¬ 
out help now when the mortgage is coming due and 
I have so many bills to meet. It takes a deal of 
money to live nowadays. You boys do not realize 
that.” 

“ Why, I had no idea you were fussed, Mother, 
and I’m sure Bob hadn’t either,” declared Walter 
soberly. 

“ Then I have done better than I thought I had,” 
returned his mother, with the shadow of a smile. 
“ I wanted to keep it secret if I could.” 

“ But you shouldn’t have tried to keep it a se¬ 
cret, Mater dear,” Walter replied. “ I’m sure 
we’d rather know— at least I would.” 

“ But what use is it? ” 

“ Use? Why, all the use in the world, Ma. I 
shall go ahead and take Mr. Crowninshield’s job 
for one thing.” 

“ But you said-” 

“ Shucks! I was only fooling about the dogs, 
Mother. I shan’t really mind exercising and tak¬ 
ing care of them at all. Of course, I won’t deny 
I’d rather they were Great Danes or police dogs; 
I’d even prefer Airedales or Cockers. Still I sup¬ 
pose these little mopsey Pekingese must have some 
brains or the Lord would not have made them. No 
doubt I shall get used to them in time.” 

“ It is only for the summer vacation anyway, you 


HIS HIGHNESS 


7 

know,” ventured his mother. “ The Crownin- 
shields go back to New York in October.” 

“ I certainly ought to be able to bear up a few 
months,” laughed Walter, with a ludicrously wry 
twist of his mouth.” I hate to think you’ve been 
bothered and have been keeping it all to yourself.” 

“ Misery does like company,” Mrs. King re¬ 
turned with an unsteady laugh. “ I believe I feel 
better already for having told you. But you must 
not worry, dear. We shall pull through all right, 
I guess. How I came to speak of it I don’t know. 
It was only that it seemed such a pity to toss the 
Crowninshield offer aside without even considering 
it. Nobody knows where it might end. The vil¬ 
lage people say Mr. Crowninshield is a very gen¬ 
erous man, especially if he takes a fancy to any¬ 
body.” 

“ But he may not take a fancy to me.” 

“ He must have done so already to be asking 
you to help with the dogs.” 

“ Nonsense, Ma! Did you think Mr. Crownin¬ 
shield picked me out himself? Why, he’s never 
laid eyes on me. That great privilege is still in 
store for him. No, he simply told Jerry Thomas, 
the caretaker, to find somebody for the job before 
the family arrived. He doesn’t care a darn who 
it is so long as he has a person who can be trusted 
with his priceless pups. Why, I heard the other 
day that a dealer from New York had offered five 
thousand dollars for the smallest one.” 

“ Walter! ” 

“ Straight goods! ” 


8 


WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ Five thousand dollars for a dog!” gasped 
Mrs. King. 

Her son chuckled at her incredulity. 

“ Sure! ” 

“ But it’s a fortune,” murmured she. “ I had 
no idea there was a dog on earth worth that much.” 

11 All of them are not.” 

“ But five thousand dollars!” she repeated. 
“ Why, Walter, I wouldn’t have you responsible 
for a creature like that for anything in the world. 
You might as well attempt to be custodian of a lot 
of gold bonds. I shouldn’t have a happy moment 
or sleep a wink thinking of it. Suppose some of 
the little wretches were to run away and get lost? 
Or suppose they were to be stolen? Or they might 
get sick and die on your hands.” 

“ That is why they want a responsible person to 
keep an eye on them.” 

His Highness squared his shoulders and threw 
out his chest. 

“ But you are not a responsible person,” burst out 
Mrs. King with unflattering candor. 

14 Mother!” 

“ Well — are you? ” she insisted. 

The boy’s figure shriveled. 

“ No,” he confessed frankly, “ I’m afraid I’m 
not.” 

“ Of course you’re not,” continued his mother 
with the same brutal truthfulness. “ It isn’t that 
you do not mean to be, sonny,” added she kindly. 
“ But your mind wanders off on all sorts of things 
instead of the thing you’re doing. That is why you 


HIS HIGHNESS 


9 

do not get on better in school. All your teachers 
say you are bright enough if you only had some 
concentration to back it up. What you can be 
thinking of all the time I cannot imagine; but cer¬ 
tainly it isn’t your lessons.” 

“ I know,” nodded Walter without resentment. 
“ My mind does flop about like a kite. I think of 
everything but what I ought to. It’s a rotten 
habit” 

“ Well, all I can say is you’d be an almighty 
poor one to look after a lot of valuable dogs, ” 
sniffed his mother. 

“ I’ll bet I could do it if I set out to.” 

“ But would you set out to — that is the ques¬ 
tion? Would you really put your entire attention 
on those dogs so that other people could drop them 
from their minds? That is what taking care 
means.” 

“ I couldn’t promise. I could only try.” 

“ I should never dare to have you undertake it.” 

“ That settles it, Ma,” announced His Highness. 
“ I’ve evidently got to prove to you that you are 
wrong. I’m going up to Crowninshield’s this min¬ 
ute to tell Jerry he can count on me from July until 
October.” 

“ You’re crazy.” 

“ Wait and see.” 

“ I know what I’ll see,” was the sharp retort. 
“ I shall see all those puppies kicking up their heels 
and racing off to Provincetown, and Mr. Crownin- 
shield insisting that you either find them and bring 
them back or pay him what they cost him.” 


10 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


“ Don’t you believe it.” 

“ That is what will happen,” was the solemn 
prophecy. 

“ But you were keen for me to take the job.” 

“ That was before I knew what the little rats 
were worth.” 

“ You just thought it was a cheap sort of a posi¬ 
tion and that I was to race round and make it pleas¬ 
ant for a lot of ordinary curs, didn’t you?” in¬ 
terrogated the lad with mock indignation. 

In spite of herself his mother smiled. 

“ Well, you see you were wrong,” went on Wal¬ 
ter. “ It is not that sort of thing at all. It is a 
job for a trustworthy man, Jerry Thomas said, and 
will bring in good wages.” 

“It ought to,” replied his mother sarcastically, 
“ if a person must spend every day for three 
months sitting with his eyes glued on those mites 
watching every breath they draw.” 

“ It isn’t just days, Mother; I’d have to be there 
nights as well.” 

" What! " 

“That’s what Jerry told me. I’d have to sleep 
on the place. Mr. Crowninshield wants some one 
there all the time.” 

“ But Walter-! ” Mrs. King broke off in 

dismay. 

“ I know that would mean leaving you alone 
now that Bob has a regular position at the Seaver 
Bay Wireless station. Still, why should you mind? 
I have always been gone all day, anyhow; and 
at night I sleep so soundly that you yourself have 


HIS HIGHNESS 


11 

often said burglars might carry away the bed from 
under me and I not know it.” 

“You are not much protection, that’s a fact,” 
confessed Mrs. King. “ Fortunately, though, I am 
not a timid person. It is not that I am afraid to 
stay here alone. My chief objection is that it seems 
foolish to run a great house like this simply for 
myself.” 

“ Couldn’t you get some one to come and keep 
you company? ” 

“ Who, I should like to know? ” 

“Why — why — well, I haven’t thought about 
it. Of course there’s Aunt Marcia King.” 

“ Mercy on us! ” exclaimed his mother, instantly 
flaring up. “ I’d rather see the evil one himself 
put in an appearance than your Aunt Marcia. Of 
all the fault-finding, critical, sharp-tongued crea¬ 
tures in the world she is the worst. Why, I’d let 
burglars carry away every stick and stone I possess 
and myself thrown in before I would ask her here 
to board.” 

“ My, Mother! I’d no idea you had such a tem¬ 
per. You’re as bad as Dave Corbett,” asserted 
Walter teasingly. 

His mother tossed her head but he saw her flush 
uncomfortably. 

“ I suppose you wouldn’t want a regular board¬ 
er,” suggested the boy in order to turn the conver¬ 
sation. 

“ A boarder! ” There was less disapproval than 
surprise in the ejaculation, however. 


12 


WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


“ Lots of people in the town do take summer 
boarders,” added he. 

“ The thought never entered my head before,” 
reflected his mother aloud. “ There certainly is 
plenty of room in the house, and we have a royal 
view of the water. Besides, there’s the garden. 
Strangers are always coming here in vacation time 
and asking if they may look at it or sketch it. It 
never seemed anything very remarkable to me for 
most of the flowers have sown themselves and grow 
like weeds, but of course there’s no denying the 
hollyhocks, poppies, and larkspur are pretty. But 
visitors always call it wonderful.” 

“ Most likely you could get a big price if you 
were to rent rooms.” 

“ I’m sure I could,” replied Mrs. King thought¬ 
fully. “ It would help toward the mortgage and 
the other bills, too. I’ve half a mind to try it, Wal¬ 
ter.” 

“ It would mean extra work for you.” 

“ Pooh! What do I care for that? Not a fig! 
In fact, with both of you boys away I’d rather be 
busy than not,” was the quick retort. 

“ Do you suppose Bob would mind? ” 

“ Bob? Why, he’s seldom at home nowadays. 
Why should he care? ” 

“ Aunt Marcia might think-” began the boy 

mischievously. But the comment was cut short. 

“ Oh, I know what your Aunt Marcia would 
say,” broke in Mrs. King. “ She’d hold up her 
hands in horror and announce that it was beneath 
the dignity of the family to take boarders.” 


13 


HIS HIGHNESS 

They both laughed. 

“ I believe the very notion of scandalizing her 
will be what will decide me,” concluded his mother 
with finality. “ I’ll put an advertisement in the 
Boston paper to-morrow and see what luck I have. 
If the right people do not turn up, why I don’t have 
to take them.” 

“ Sure you don’t.” 

“ It’s a good plan, a splendid plan, Walter. 
Boarders will give me company and money too. I 
wonder it never occurred to me to do it before.” 
Then she patted the lad’s shoulder, adding play¬ 
fully, “ I guess if you have brains in one direction 
you must have them in another. Still, as I said be¬ 
fore, I do not fancy your being responsible for 
those dogs.” 

“ Pooh! You quit worrying, Ma, or I shall be 
sorry I told you they were blue ribbon pups.” 

“ I should have heard of it, never fear. You hear 
of everything in this town. You can’t help it. Like 
as not everybody in the place will know by to¬ 
morrow morning that I am going to take boarders. 
Luckily I don’t care — that’s one good thing. And 
as to the dogs, if you are resolved to accept that 
position all I can say is that you must keep a head 
on your shoulders. You cannot hire out for a job 
unless you are prepared to give a full return for 
the money paid you. It is not honest. So think 
carefully what you mean to do before you embark. 
And remember, if you get into some careless scrape 
you cannot come back on me for money for I 
haven’t any to hand over.” 


i 4 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ I shall shoulder my own blame,” responded 
Walter, drawing in his chin. 

“ Well and good then. If you are ready to do 
that, it is your affair and I have nothing more tc 
say,” announced Mrs. King, preparing to leave the 
room. 

But Walter stayed her on the threshold. 

“ I don’t see,” he began, “ why you always seem 
to expect I’m going to get into a scrape. You are 
never looking for trouble with Bob.” 

“ Bob! Bless your heart I never have to! You 
know that as well as I do. Any one could trust Bob 
until the Day of Judgment. He never forgets a 
word you tell him. Ask him to do an errand and it 
is as good as done. You can drop it from your 
mind. From a little child he was dependable like 
that. His teachers couldn’t say enough about him. 
Wasn’t he always at the head of his class? The 
way he’s turned out is no surprise. Think of his 
picking up wireless enough outside school hours to 
get a radio job during the war, and afterward that 
fine position at Seaver Bay! Few lads his age 
could have done it. And think of the messages he’s 
entrusted with — government work, and sinking 
ships, and goodness knows what not! ” 

The proud mother ceased for lack of breath. 

“ I wish I was like Bob,” sighed Walter gloom- 
ily. 

“Nonsense!” was the instant exclamation. 
“ You’re yourself, and scatter-brain as you are, I’d 
want you no different. You’re but a lad yet. When 


HIS HIGHNESS 15 

you are Bob’s age you may be like him. Who 
knows? ” 

“ I’m afraid not,” came dismally from Walter. 
“ I haven’t started out as Bob did.” 

“ What if you haven’t? There’s time enough to 
catch up if you hurry. And anyway, I do not want 
my children all alike. Variety is the spice of life. 
I wouldn’t have you patterned after Bob if I could 
speak the word.” 

“ You wouldn’t? ” the boy brightened. 

“ Indeed I wouldn’t! Who would I be patching 
torn trousers or darning ripped sweaters for if you 
were like Bob, I’d like to know? Who’d be pester¬ 
ing me to hunt up his cap and mittens? And who 
would I be frying clams for? ” 

“ Bob never could abide clam fritters, could 
he? ” put in the younger brother. 

“ Bob never had any frivolities,” mused Mrs. 
King, shaking her head. “ Sometimes I’ve almost 
wished he had if only to keep the rest of us in 
countenance. Many’s the time I’ve feared lest he 
was going to die he was that near perfect.” 

“ Well, Ma, you haven’t had to lie awake worry¬ 
ing because I was too good for this world, have 
you?” chuckled His Highness, breaking into a 
grin. 

His mother regarded him affectionately. 

“ Oh, you’ll make your way too, sonny, some 
day. It won’t be as Bob has done it; but you’ll 
make it nevertheless. Folks are going to do things 
for you simply because they cannot help it.” 


16 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

The boy studied her with a puzzled expression. 

“ What do you mean, Mater? ” 

As if coming out of a reverie Mrs. King started, 
the mistiness that had softened her eyes vanishing. 

“ There! Look at the way you’ve splashed up 
my nice clean sink! ” complained she tartly. “ Did 
any one ever see such a child — always messing 
up everything! Come, clear out of here and take 
your fish with you. It does seem as if you needed 
four nursemaids and a valet at your heels to pick 
up after you. Be off this minute.” 

With a cloth in one hand and a bar of soap in 
the other, she elbowed him away from the dishpan. 

“You’ll fry these flounders for supper, won’t 
you, Ma?” called the lad as he disappeared into 
the shed. 

“ Fry ’em? I reckon I’ll have to. It’s wicked to 
catch fish and not use ’em.” 

But he saw his mother’s eyes twinkle and her 
grumbling assent did not trouble him. 


CHAPTER II 


THE NEW JOB 

May at Lovell’s Harbor was one of the most 
beautiful seasons of the year. In fact the inhabi¬ 
tants of the town often remarked that they put up 
with the winters the small isolated village offered 
for the sake of its springs and summers. Certain 
it was that when easterly storms swept the marshes 
and lashed the harbor into foam; when every boat 
that struggled out of the channel returned whitened 
to the gunwale with ice, there was little to induce 
anybody to take up residence in the hamlet. How 
cold and blue the water looked! How the surf 
boomed up on the lonely beach and the winds 
howled and whined around the eaves of the low 
cottages! 

One buttoned himself tightly into a greatcoat 
then, twisted a muffler many times about his neck, 
pulled his cap over his ears, and rushed for school 
with a velocity that almost equaled the scudding 
schooners whose sails billowed large against the 
horizon. At least that was what His Highness, 
Walter King, invariably did. 

But from the instant the breath of spring stole 
into the air,— ah, then Lovell’s Harbor became a 
different place altogether. The stems of the wil- 


18 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

lows fringing the small fresh-water ponds mel¬ 
lowed to bronze before one’s very eyes; the dull 
reaches of salt grass turned emerald; the steely tint 
of the sea softened to azure and glinted golden in 
the sun. How shrill sounded the cries of the red¬ 
wings in the marsh! How jolly the frogs’ twilight 
chorus! 

The miracle went on with amazing rapidity. 
Soon you were scouring the hollows in the woods 
for arbutus or splashing bare-legged into the bogs 
for cowslips. You even ventured knee-deep into 
the sea which although still chill was no longer 
frigid. And then, before you knew it, you were 
hauling out your fishing tackle and looking over 
your flies; inspecting the old dory and calking her 
seams with a coat of fresh paint. Then came the 
raking of the leaves, the uncovering of the holly¬ 
hocks, and the burning of brush; and through the 
mists of smoke that rose high in air you could hear 
the resonant chee-ee of the blackbirds swinging on 
the reeds along the margin of the creek. 

And afterward, when summer had really made 
its appearance, what days of blue and gold fol¬ 
lowed! Was ever sky so cloudless, grass so vividly 
green, or ocean so sparkling? Ah, a boy never 
lacked amusement now! He wriggled into his 
bathing suit directly after breakfast and was off to 
the shore to swim, fish, or sail, or do any of the 
thousand-and-one alluring things that turned up. 
And things always did turn up in that small horse¬ 
shoe where the boats made in. It was f he club of 
Lovell’s Harbor. 


THE NEW JOB 19 

Here all the men of the village congregated 
daily to smoke, swap jokes, and heckle those who 
worked. 

“ That’s no way to mend a net, Eph,” one of the 
spectators would protest. “ Where was you 
fetched up, man? Tote the durn thing over here 
and I’ll show you how they do it off the Horn.” 

Or another member of the audience would call: 

“Was you reckonin’ you’d have enough paint 
in that keg to finish your yawl, Eddie? Never in 
the world! What are you so scrimpin’ of it for? 
Slither it on good and thick and let it trickle down 
into the cracks. ’Twill keep ’em tight.” 

Oh, one learned to curb his temper and bend to 
the higher criticism if he carried his work down to 
the beach. He got an abundance of advice whether 
he asked for it or not and for the most part the 
counsel was sound and helpful. There you heard 
also tales of tempests, wrecks, strange ports, and sea 
serpents,— weird tales that chilled your blood; 
and sometimes the piping note of an old chanty was 
raised by one whose sailing days were now only a 
memory. 

What marvel that to be a boy at Lovell’s Harbor 
was a boon to be coveted even if along with the dis¬ 
tinction went a throng of homely tasks such as 
shucking clams, cleaning cod, baiting lobster pots, 
and running errands? No cake is all frosting and 
no chowder all broth. You had to take the bad 
along with the good if you lived at Lovell’s Har¬ 
bor. And while you were sandwiching in work 
and fun what an education you got! Why, it was 


20 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

better than a dozen schools. Not only did you learn 
to swim like a spaniel, pull a strong oar, hoist a sail, 
and gain an understanding of winds and tides, but 
also you came to handle tools with an ease no man¬ 
ual training school could teach you. You made 
a wooden pin do if you had no nail; and a bit of 
rope serve if the whittled pin were lacking. In¬ 
stead of hurrying to a shop to purchase new you 
patched up the old, and the triumph of doing it 
afforded a satisfaction very pleasant to experience. 

Moreover, as a result, you had more pennies in 
your pocket and more brains in your head. Both 
Bob and Walter King, as well as most of the other 
village lads, outranked the town-bred boy in all¬ 
round practical skill. They may not have cut such 
a fine figure at golf or dancing; perhaps they did 
not excel at Latin or French; but they had at the 
tips of their tongues numberless useful facts which 
they had tried out and proven workable and which 
no city dweller could possibly have gleaned. 

His highness might be freckled and towsled and, 
as his mother affirmed, forgetful and careless, but 
like a sponge his active young mind had soaked 
up a deal no books could have given him. You 
would best beware how you jollied Walter King or 
put him down for a “ Rube.” More than likely 
you would later regret your snap judgment. 

No doubt it was this realization that had stimu¬ 
lated Jerry Thomas to ask him to come to Surf side, 
the Crowninshield’s big summer estate, and look 
after the dogs. Jerry was an old resident of Lov¬ 
ell’s Harbor, and having watched the boy grow up, 


21 


THE NEW JOB 

he unquestionably knew what he was about. That 
there were plenty of other boys at the Harbor to 
choose from was certain. If the honor descended 
to His Highness rest assured it was not without 
reason. 

Hence Jerry was not only pleased but immensely 
gratified when on the morning following Walter 
rounded the corner of the great barn and appeared 
in the doorway. 

“ I’ve come to say Yes to that job you offered me 
the other day,” announced he, without wasting 
words on preliminaries. 

“ Good, youngster! ” 

“ When shall you want me? ” 

“ When can you come? ” grinned Jerry. 

He was a lank, sharp-featured man with china 
blue eyes that narrowed to a mere slit when he 
smiled, and from the corners of which crowsfeet, 
like fan-shaped streaks of light from the rising 
sun, radiated across his temples. His skin was 
tanned to the hue of old hickory and deep down in 
its furrows were lines of white. He had a big nose 
that was always sunburned, powerful hands with a 
reddish fuzz on their backs, and gnarled fingers 
that bore the scars of innumerable nautical disas¬ 
ters. But the chief glory he possessed was a neatly 
tatooed schooner that sailed under full canvas upon 
his forearm and bore beneath it the inscription: 

The Mollie D. The finest ship afloat. 

The words had been intended as a tribute rather 
than a challenge for Jerry was a peaceful soul, but 


22 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

unfortunately they had proved provocative of many 
a brawl, and had the truth been known a certain 
odd slant of Jerry’s chin could have been traced 
back to this apparently harmless assertion. Pos¬ 
sibly had this mate of the Mollie D. foreseen into 
what straits his boast was to lead him he might not 
have expressed it so baldly in all the naked glory 
of blue ink; but with the sentiment once immor¬ 
talized what choice had he but to defend it? 
Therefore, being no coward but a sturdy seaman 
with a swinging undercut, he had in times past de¬ 
livered many a blow in order to uphold the Mollie 
D/s nautical reputation, after which encounters his 
challengers were wont to emerge with a more pro¬ 
found respect not only for the bark but for Jerry 
Thomas as well. 

All that, however, was long ago. Since the great 
storm of 1890 when so many ships had perished 
and the Mollie D., bound from Norfolk to Fair- 
haven, had gone down with the rest, Jerry had 
abandoned the sea. It was not the perils of the 
deep, nevertheless, that had driven him landward, 
or the fear of future disasters; it was only that since 
his first love was lost he could not bring himself 
to ship on any other vessel. 

Accordingly he took to the shore and for a time 
a very strange misfit he was there. How he fumed 
and fidgeted and roamed from one place to an¬ 
other, searching for some spot in which his restless 
spirit would find peace! And then one day he had 
wandered into Lovell’s Harbor and there he had 
stayed ever since. For several seasons he had taken 


THE NEW JOB 23 

out sailing parties of summer boarders or piloted 
amateur fishermen out to the Ledges; but the timid¬ 
ity and lack of sophistication of these city patrons 
at length so rasped his nerves that he gave up the 
task and was about to betake himself to pastures 
new when he fell beneath the eye of Mr. Glenmore 
Archibald Crowninshield, a New York banker, 
who had bought the strip of land forming one arm 
of the bay and was on the point of erecting there a 
diminutive summer palace. 

From that instant Jerry’s fortune was made. 
Mr. Crowninshield was a keen student of human 
nature and was immediately attracted to the sailor 
with his ambling gait and twinkling blue eyes. 
Moreover, the New Yorker happened to be in 
search of just such a man to look out for his in¬ 
terests when he was not at Lovell’s Harbor. Hence 
Jerry was elevated to the post of caretaker and dele¬ 
gated to keep guard over the edifice that was about 
to be erected. 

In view of the fact that up to the moment Jerry 
had been the most care-free mortal alive and had 
never from day to day been able to remember the 
whereabouts of his sou’wester or his rubber boots, 
his ensuing transformation was nothing short of 
a miracle. Promptly settling down with doglike 
fidelity he began mildly to urge on the lagging car¬ 
penters; but presently, magnificent in his wrath, he 
rose above them, whiplash in hand, and drove them 
forward. His watery blue eyes followed every 
stick of timber, every foot of piping, every nail 
that was placed. There was no escaping his watch- 


24 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

fulness. If corners were not true or moldings did 
not meet he saw and called attention to it. Many a 
time a slipshod workman was ready to throw him 
over the cliff into the sea and perhaps might have 
done so had he not been conscious of the justice of 
the criticism. 

In consequence the Crowninshield house was 
built on honor; and when the bills began to come in 
and showed a marked falling off in magnitude the 
owner of the mansion could not but express grati¬ 
tude. Jerry, however, did not covet thanks. In¬ 
stead he tagged along at his employer’s heels, 
proudly calling notice first to one skillful bit of 
work and then to another. The house and all that 
concerned it became his hobby. It was to him what 
the Mollie D. had been, the primary interest of his 
life. He knew every inch of plumbing; where 
every shut-off, valve, ventilator, and stopcock was 
located. Moreover, he could have told, had not his 
jaws been clamped together tightly as a scallop 
shell, exactly how much every article in the man¬ 
sion cost. 

Later he superintended the grading of the lawns, 
the laying out of tennis courts, and the building 
of garages, boathouses, and bathhouses. By this 
time Mr. Crowninshield would willingly have 
trusted him with every farthing he possessed so 
complete was his confidence in his man Friday. 

Jerry, however, was modest. He declared he 
had only done his duty and insisted that it go at 
that. But having set this high standard of fidelity 
for himself it followed that he demanded a like 


THE NEW JOB 25 

faithfulness in others; and if he were not merciful 
to those who came under his dictatorship at least 
no one of them could deny that he was just. Hence 
Walter King did not shrink from the prospect of 
working with him, stern though he was reputed to 
be. One can only do one’s best and that the boy 
was determined to do. Therefore he smiled up into 
Jerry’s misty blue eyes and answered: 

“ I could begin work when school closes toward 
the end of June.” 

“ Humph! I wish you could make it earlier. 
Well, we must put up with that since it is the best 
you can do. Goodness knows I’d be the last one 
to discourage learning in the young. I got all too 
little of it when I was a shaver. Not a day goes by 
that I don’t wish I’d had my chance. I shipped 
to sea when I was only twelve—would go—nothing 
would stop me — and I’ve been knocking round 
ever since, picking up here and there what scraps 
of knowledge I could get. Don’t let anything 
tempt you to sea till you’re full-grown, sonny, for 
you’ll live to regret it, sure as my name is Jerry 
Taylor. ” 

Walter flushed guiltily, wondering as he did so 
whether Jerry’s little blue eyes had bored their way 
into his skull and read there his aspirations. 

“ Nope! ” went on the sailor. “ Take it from me, 
seafaring is a man’s job. You much better stay 

ashore and-” he stopped as if at a loss and then 

smiling broadly added, “ play governess to a pack 
of dogs.” 

“ I figure that is about what I’m going to do,” 



26 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


replied His Highness with a comic air of resigna¬ 
tion. 

“ Well, what’s the matter with that? ” inquired 
Jerry sharply. “You’ll be getting paid for it, 
won’t you — well paid? And you’ll have cozy 
quarters all to yourself, and three good meals a day. 
Land alive! Some folks want the earth! Why, 
when I was your age, I was swung up in a ham¬ 
mock between decks with not an inch of space that 
I could call my own. If I wanted to stow away 
anything I hadn’t a place to put it where it wasn’t 
common property. As for meals I took what I 
could get and was thankful that I didn’t starve. 
And here you come along and tilt up your freckled 
pug nose at a room and board and ten a week. Bah! 
What’s come over this generation anyway? ” 

“ I wasn’t turning up my nose,” Walter ventured 
to protest. “ It turns up anyhow.” 

“ Then you need to be careful how you make it 
go higher,” grinned Jerry. 

“ And — and — I had no idea you meant to pay 
me that much.” 

“ What do you think we are up here? ” bristled 
Jerry. “A sweatshop? No siree! We stand for 
the square deal every time, we do. Only you’ve 
got to understand, young one, that it’s to be square 
on both sides. You’re to do no shirking; if you do 
you’ll get fired so quick you’ll wonder what hit 
you. But if you do your part you need have no 
worries. Now think good and plenty before ) 7 cu 
embark on the cruise.” 

“ I have thought.” 


THE NEW JOB 27 

“ All right then. We’ll haul up anchor and be 
off the latter part of June.” 

“ You’ll have to tell me exactly what you want 
me to do.” 

“ Oh, I’ll tell you right ’nough,” drawled Jerry, 
with a humorous twist of his lips. “ You’ll get a 
chart to sail by. Still, it won’t wholly cover your 
duties. The thing for you to do is to keep your 
eyes peeled and look alive. Watch out and see 
where there’s a hole an’ be in that hole so it won’t 
be empty. That’s the best recipe I know for being 
useful.” 

“ I’ll try.” 

“ If you honestly do that I reckon there’ll be no 
cause for you to worry,” observed the caretaker 
kindly. “ Towards the end of June, then, I’ll be on 
the lookout for you. Your quarters will be all 
ready, shipshape and trim as a liner’s cabin.” 

“ Where will they be? ” inquired Walter. 

“ Want to see ’em? ” 

“ I’d like to, yes.” 

“ I s’pose you would,” nodded Jerry. “ You can 
as well as not; only they ain’t fixed up as they’ll be 
later. Look kinder dismal.” 

“ Oh, I shan’t mind.” 

The big man smiled at the eagerness of the boy’s 
tone. 

“ Likely you ain’t never been away from home 
before, son,” said he, as he took a key out of a glass 
case on the wall of the barn and slipped it into his 
pocket. 

“ No — that is, not to stay.” 


28 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ Quite some adventure, eh? ” 

The lad shot a bright glance toward him. 

“ Yes.” 

“Well, well! Count yourself lucky, youngster, 
that you’ve had a good home and a good mother up 
to now; and bless your stars, too, that since you 
are going to start branching out you’re coming to a 
place like Surfside rather’n somewhere else.” 

His voice was gentle and his misty eyes mistier 
than ever. 

Striding ahead he crossed the lawn, unlocked a 
low building, and mounting the stairs, stopped be¬ 
fore a door in the hall above. With a turn of the 
key it swung open, disclosing a small sheathed 
room containing a white iron bed, bureau, table, 
chairs, and bookshelves. 

“ Think this will suit your Highness? ” grinned 
he. 

“It’s — it’s corking!” stammered Walter, al¬ 
most too delighted to reply. 

“ ’Tain’t bad,” admitted Jerry, strolling over to 
one of the windows that faced the sea and looking 
out. “ Mr. Crowninshield makes it a rule never 
to stow away other folks where he wouldn’t be 
stowed himself. It isn’t a bad principle, either. 
You’ll have a couple of the chauffeurs for com¬ 
pany.” With his thumb he motioned to other rooms 
flanking the narrow hall. “ They may josh you 
some at first. That’s part of starting out in the 
world. Keep a civil tongue in your head and if 
you don’t mind ’em they’ll soon quit. If they don’t 
it’s up to you to find the way to get on with ’em. 


THE NEW JOB 29 

Half of life is learning to shy round the corners of 
the folks about you. And old Tim, who used to be 
gardener for Mr. Crowninshield’s father and has 
been in the family ’most half a century, bides here, 
too. A rare soul, Tim. You’ll like him. Every¬ 
body does. Simple as a child, he is, and so gentle 
that it well-nigh breaks his heart to kill a potato 
bug. You can count on Tim standing your friend 
no matter what the rest may do, so cheer up.” 

“ And the dogs?” 

“ Oh, the kennels, you mean? They’re close by 
where you’ll get the full benefit of the pups’ bark¬ 
ing in the early morning,” said Jerry, with a 
twinkle. “ ’Twill give you a pleasant feeling to be 
certain your charges are alive. Most often, though, 
they do no yammering until about six, and good¬ 
ness knows all Christians ought to be up at that 
hour. You’ll find the dogs fitted out comfortable as 
the rest of us. They’ve a fine enclosure to stay in 
when they want to be out of doors; a big airy room 
if it’s better to have ’em under cover; steam heat 
when it’s cold; and blankets and brushes without 
end. Sometimes Lola, the pet of ’em all, sleeps up 
at the big house; but mostly she’s here with the rest. 
There’s too big a caravan of ’em to have the lot 
live with the family. Besides, the folks like to 
sleep late in the morning and not be disturbed by 
the noise of a pack of puppies. Then there’s guests 
here off and on. So take it all in all, the dogs are 
best by themselves.” 

“ But I don’t know anything about taking care 
of dogs,” faltered Walter. 


30 


WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


“ I thought you’d had a dog yourself.” 

“ So I had once. But he wasn’t like any of these. 
He was just a dog. All you had to do was to chuck 
him a bone.” 

“ Well, you’ll have a darn sight more to do for 
these critters than that,” announced Jerry. 

“ But how’ll I know-” began the boy, 

alarmed by the prospect before him. 

“ Oh, you’ll get your instructions from the 
Madam, most likely — get ’em all written down in 
black and white along with the history of every 
dog. She’ll tell you just what every one of ’em is 
to eat, and how much; and where they’re all to 
sleep. And if she don’t Miss Nancy or Mr. Dick 
will. You’ll get yards and yards of directions be¬ 
fore you’re through,” chuckled Jerry. “You want 
to listen well to every word you hear too, son, for 
these dogs ain’t like your Towser — or whatever 
his name was; a crumb of food too much might 
kill ’em. Or a blast of air.” 

“ Scott!” 

“ Oh, there’s no use getting panicky at the out¬ 
set,” declared Jerry comfortably. “ Follow orders 
and use your brains; and remember that if you get 
addled you can always consult Tim. Tim has a 
world of common sense and a heap of knowledge of 
odd sorts. And more than that, he’s never swept 
off his feet by the cost of things. Having been 
brought up in the company of Rolls-Royce cars, 
and diamond rings, and thousand-dollar dogs they 
don’t move him an inch. He just treats ’em same’s 
he would anything else and often it’s the best plan. 



THE NEW JOB 31 

Instead of losing his head, and standing wringing 
his hands ’cause the prize roses have got bugs on 
’em he sets to work and kills the bugs; sprays the 
plants same’s he would ordinary bushes, and they 
go to growing again like any other civilized flow¬ 
ers. An orchid ain’t no more to him than a butter¬ 
cup. He’s too used to ’em. He’s used to dogs as 
well, and with the shifting fashions he’s seen during 
his fifty years with the family he’s had experience 
with most every kind of dog that ever was. For 
there’s fashions in dogs, you know, as well as in 
coats and hats. So turn to Tim when you’re in a 
tight place. He’ll help you, never fear.” 

“ I hope he will,” sighed His Highness ruefully. 
“ I shall need him.” 

“ Nonsense! Why, Mr. Dick has often cared for 
the pups when there was no one else; and certainly 
you ought to have as many brains as he.” 

“ Tell me about him.” 

“Richard? You’ve seen him round town lots 
of times — you must have. At the village and 
other places.” 

“Oh, of course I’ve seen him,” agreed Walter 
quickly. “ In the summer he drives past our house 
almost every day in his car. But I don’t know 
him any.” 

“ You will now,” asserted Jerry. “ He’s a great 
chap, Mr. Dick is! About your age, too, I guess. 
Quite a mechanic and always tinkering with tools 
and machinery. If there’s anything wrong with 
the motor boat he can usually fix her up all right. 
As for mending a car, he beats all the chauffeurs 


32 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

out. They know it and have to say so. Likely 
you’ve seen him fluking through the main street in 
his racer. She’s a trim little thing and could go 
like the wind if his Pa hadn’t forbidden letting 
out the engine. I reckon Mr. Crowninshield is 
afraid he’ll either kill himself or somebody else, 
and I will own the thing ain’t no proper toy for a 
lad his age. Still, city folks ain’t content with what 
would please you or me. They must have the big¬ 
gest, the fastest, the most expensive article there is 
or ’tain’t good for nothin’. The mere knowin’ it’s 
the biggest, fastest, and cost the most seems to 
make ’em happy somehow. Funny, ain’t it? ” 

His Highness did not reply. He was thinking. 

“ And Miss Nancy? ” interrogated he presently. 

“ Ha! There’s a girl for you! ” ejaculated Jerry 
with enthusiasm. “ She’ll be either seventeen or 
eighteen come June. Swims like a fish. In fact, 
I ain’t sure she couldn’t outdistance some of ’em. 
And such an oar as she pulls! It’s strong and steady 
as any man’s. Besides that, she can beat the crowd 
at tennis, golf, and those other fool games such 
folks play. Has a runabout of her own, too, and 
drives it neat as a pin.” 

“ She’s better at sports than Mr. Dick, then.” 

“ Oh, she can wipe the ground up with him,” 
sniffed Jerry. “ She can swim overhand to the 
raft and get back almost before her brother has 
started. By Guy! I never saw a woman swim as 
she does! Dick gets kinder peeved with her some¬ 
times when she jollies him. But let her car play a 
prank and he has her, for she’s no more idea what 


THE NEW JOB 33 

to do with an engine than the man in the moon. 
She treats brother Richard with proper respect 
then, I can tell you.” 

Walter smiled. 

“ And Mrs. Crowninshield? ” 

“ She? She’s all right! You’ll like her and 
she’ll like you — that is, if you get on with the 
pups. Dogs are her hobby. What she don’t know 
about raisin’ ’em ain’t worth knowin’. But I just 
warn you not to think that because she’s so pleasant 
she’s easy goin’, ’cause she ain’t. Slip up on your 
job and she’ll be down on you like a thousand of 
brick. She’s a fair-weather sailin’ craft — that’s 
what she is; floats along nice as anything until 
something goes wrong and then — my soul — but 
she kicks up a sea. Yet with all that you’ll like her. 
We all do. Almost everybody on the place would 
get down and let her walk on ’em. She has a kind 
of way with her that makes you itch to please her. 
Tim would let her cut his head clean off if she 
wanted to and I ain’t sure I wouldn’t. Have a 
smart sore throat once and see the things she’ll do 
for you. And she’ll do ’em herself, too — not set 
other people on the job. I believe that woman has 
the biggest heart in the world.” 

“ And — and — Mr. Crowninshield? ” ventured 
Walter. 

“The boss?” Jerry cleared his throat and for 
the first time hesitated. “You’ve got to under¬ 
stand the boss, my son,” said he earnestly. “ He 
ain’t like other men. And in order that you may, I 
better give you a pointer or two for it will most 


34 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

probably save you trouble. The boss is something 
like a big dog that barks fit to murder you and don’t 
mean a thing by it. You’ve seen the kind. To hear 
him go on when he’s roused you’d believe he was 
going to have your blood. My, how he does orate! ” 
Jerry smiled and shook his head indulgently. 
“ I’ve seen the men stand up before him with their 
knees shaking until you’d expect ’em to give way 
every second. And the master would rage and 
rage because they’d done something he didn’t want 
done. And then, like a hurricane that’s blown itself 
out, he’ll calm down and the next you know he’s 
given you a smile that’s made you forget all the rest 
of it. That’s him all over. Learn not to be afraid 
of him, that’s the only thing to do. He wouldn’t 
hurt a fly really. He just gets to blusterin’ and 
tearin’ round from force of habit. It don’t mean 
nothin’ — not a thing in the world. And with all 
his money he ain’t a mite cocky. To see him you’d 
scarce dream he had a copper in his pocket. Yet 
he could paper the house with thousand-dollar bills 
was he so minded. There’s no end to his money, 
seems to me. Just the same, you don’t want to go 
wastin’ it for him on that account. Remember you 
ain’t got the right to, not havin’ earned it. If he 
chooses to splash it round that’s his hunt. He made 
it. But it ain’t yours or mine to slosh away. Jot 
that down in your log. It may help you later.” 

Jerry paused. 

“ You deal square and honorable with the boss, 
standing up to what you’ve done like you was a 
trooper at your gun, and he’ll deal square and hon- 


THE NEW JOB 35 

orable with you. But go to hoodwinking and im¬ 
posing on him and instead of a lamb you’ll find 
you’ve got a rattlesnake at your heels. Now you 
have an idea, I guess, what you’re going to be up 
against here,” concluded the caretaker, taking uut 
his pipe and cramming it with tobacco. “ If there’s 
anything else you want to know now’s your chance, 
for after to-day I am never going to open my lips 
again about any of the Crowninshield family. 
You’ll be one of the employees and your job will be 
to hold your tongue on them and their affairs, and 
be loyal to ’em. Their bread will be feeding you 
and ’twill be only decent. After you once have got 
your place the keeping of it will rest with you. 
That’s fair, ain’t it? ” 

Walter nodded. 

Yet he turned slowly toward home, depressed 
by a throng of misgivings. Suppose he was not 
able to hold the job at Surfside once it was his? 
What then? 


CHAPTER III 


WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING 

By the middle of May Lovell’s Harbor had fully 
awakened from its winter’s sleep. Freshly painted 
dories were slipped into the water; newly rigged 
yawls and knockabouts were anchored in the bay; 
the float was equipped with renovated bumpers, 
and a general air of anticipation pervaded the com¬ 
munity. 

Yes, hot weather was really on the way. Already 
the summer cottages were being opened, aired, and 
put in order, and even some of the houses had gayly 
figured hangings at the windows and a film of 
smoke could be seen issuing from the chimneys. 

At Surfside workmen bustled about, hurrying 
across the lawn with boards, paint pots, and ham¬ 
mers. Tim Cavenough and his little host of help¬ 
ers scurried to uncover the flower beds, and from 
morning to night trudged back and forth from the 
greenhouses bearing shallow boxes of seedlings 
which they transplanted to the gardens. Shutters 
were removed and stored away, piazza chairs 
brought out, awnings put up, and lawns and tennis 
courts rolled and cut. 

As far as one could see a spangled expanse of 
ocean dazzled the eye and the tiny salt creeks that 


WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING 


37 

meandered across the meadows were like winding 
ribbons of blue. Certainly it was no weather to be 
shut up in school and boys and girls went hither 
with reluctant feet, checking off the days on their 
fingers and even counting the hours that must drag 
by before they would be free to roam at will amid 
this panorama of beauty. 

To Walter King it seemed as if the closing 
period of his captivity would never be at an end. 
He studied rebelliously, and with only a half — 
nay, rather a quarter — of his mind on his lessons. 
All his thought was centered around Surfside and 
the novel experiences that beckoned him there. 
So impatient was he to begin his new duties that 
he found it impossible to settle down to anything. 

“ You’ll be failing in your last examinations, 
Walter, if you don’t watch what you’re doing,” 
cautioned his mother. “ And should you do that, 
little profit would it be that you are hired out to 
Mr. Crowninshield for the summer. In the fall 
you’d have to stay behind your class, and think of 
the disgrace of that! Why, I’d be ready to hide 
my head with shame! Money or no money, you 
must buck up and put the Crowninshields and 
their doings out of your head. To lose a year now 
would mean just that much longer before you could 
graduate and take a regular job. I almost wish 
Jerry Thomas had never asked you to come up 
there, I do indeed.” 

“ Oh, don’t go getting all fussed up, Ma,” re¬ 
turned His Highness, irritated because he recog¬ 
nized the truth of his mother’s words. “ I’m going 


38 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

to buckle down until the term is over, honest I am. 
It is hard, though, with the weather so fine. It 
seems as if I must be out. It’s like being on a 
leash.” 

“You’re thinking of those dogs again!” 

The lad flushed sheepishly. 

“ No, I wasn’t.” 

“ But you were — whether you realized it or not. 
It is all you talk of nowadays — dogs! What it 
will be after they get here and you’re up at Surf- 
side living with them I don’t know. Whatever 
else you do, though, you must not fail in your 
lessons and at the last moment spoil your whole 
year’s record. School is your first duty now and 
you have no moral right to put anything else in its 
place.” 

“ I know it, Ma,” Walter agreed. 

“ Of course you know it,” was the tart response. 
“ Just see that you do not forget it, that’s all.” 

With this final admonition Mrs. King whisked 
about and taking up her cake of Sapolio and pail 
of steaming water ascended the stairs. Like the 
rest of Lovell’s Harbor she was busy as a bee in 
clovertime. She had rented all her rooms and 
had so many things to do in preparation for her 
expected guests that she had not a second to waste. 

After she had gone Walter loitered in the kitch¬ 
en, whistling absently and at the same time wind¬ 
ing a piece of string aimlessly over his fingers. His 
mother’s words had stirred a vague, uncomfortable 
possibility in his mind. What if he were to fail in 
those final exams? It would be terrible. Such 


WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING 


39 

a disaster did not seem real. It couldn’t happen 
— actually happen — to him. It would be too aw¬ 
ful. Nevertheless, try as he would to banish them, 
visions of Surfside with its myriad fascinations 
would dance in his head. 

He had never been away from home for more 
than a night before and to take up residence else¬ 
where for an entire season was in itself a novelty. 
Then there were the tennis courts, the golf links, 
the automobiles, motor boats, and the yacht! Why, 
it would be like fairyland! The next instant, how¬ 
ever, his spirits drooped. It was absurd to imagine 
for a moment that he was to have any part in those 
magic amusements. He was not going to Surfside 
for recreation but for work. Notwithstanding that 
fact, though, it was beyond his power to forget that 
all these many activities would be going on about 
him and there was the chance, the bare chance, that 
an occasion might arise when he would be invited 
to participate in some of them. 

Fancy spinning over the sandy roads of the Cape 
in that wonderful racing car! Or sailing the blue 
waters of the harbor in one of those snowy motor 
boats! As for the yacht, with its trimmings of 
glistening brass and spotless decks, had he not 
dreamed of going aboard it ever since the day it 
had first steamed into the bay two summers ago? 
People said there was every imaginable contriv¬ 
ance aboard: ice-making machines, electric lights, 
and electric piano, goodness only knew what! 
Simply to see such things would be wonderful. 
And if it ever should come about (of course it 


WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


40 

never would and it was absurd to picture it — ri¬ 
diculous) but if it ever did that he should go sail¬ 
ing out of the bay on that mystic craft what a mir¬ 
acle that would be! 

With such visions floating through his mind what 
marvel that it was well-nigh out of the question 
for Walter King to focus his attention on algebra, 
Latin, history, and physics. X + Y seemed of very 
little consequence, and as for the Punic Wars they 
were so far away as to be hazy beyond any reality 
at all. 

Possibly, although she was quite unconscious of 
it, some of the fault was his mother’s for she kept 
the topic of his departure to the Crowninshields’ 
ever before him. 

“ I have your new shirts almost finished, son,” 
she would assert with satisfaction, “ and they’re as 
neat and well made as any New York tailor could 
make them, if I do say it; and you’ve three pairs 
of khaki trousers besides your old woolen ones and 
corduroys. With your Sunday suit of blue serge 
and those fresh ties and cap you’ll have nothing to 
be ashamed of. Then you’ve those denim overalls, 
and your slicker, and Bob’s outgrown pea-coat. 
I can’t see but what you have everything you can 
possibly need. Do be watchful of your shoes and 
use them carefully, won’t you, for they cost a mint 
of money? And remember whenever you can to 
work in your old duds and save your others. You 
can just as well as not if you only think of it. Your 
washing you’ll bring home and don’t forget that 
I want you to keep neat and clean. Rich folks no- 


WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING 


4i 

tice those things a lot. So scrub your hands and 
neck and clean your nails, even if I’m not there to 
tell you to. Just because you are going to traipse 
round with the dogs is no excuse for looking like 
’em,” concluded she. 

“ I’ll remember, Ma,” returned His Highness 
patiently. 

“ And if you eat with the chauffeurs and a pack 
of men, don’t go stuffing yourself with food until 
you’re sick. There’s a time to stop, you know. 
Don’t wait until you’ve got past it and are so 
crammed that you can’t swallow another mouth¬ 
ful.” 

“ I won’t, Ma,” was the meek response. 

“ Brush your teeth faithfully, too. I’ve spent 
too much money on them to have them go to waste 
now.” 

“ Yes,” came wearily from Walter. 

“ Of course there’s no call for me to talk to a 
person your age about smoking,” continued his 
mother. “ When you’ve got your full growth and 
can earn money enough to pay for such foolishness 
you’ve a right to indulge in it if you see fit; but 
until then don’t start a habit that will do you no 
good and may make a pigmy of you for life.” 

“ I promise you right now, Ma, that I-” 

“ No, don’t promise. A promise is a sacred thing 
and one that it is a sacrilege to break. Never make 
a promise lightly. But just remember, laddie, 
that I’d far rather you didn’t smoke for a few 
years yet. But should you feel you must why come 
and tell me, that’s all.” 


42 


WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ I will, Ma,” answered the boy soberly. Some¬ 
how going away from home suddenly seemed a 
very solemn business. 

“ I guess that’s the end of my cautions,” smiled 
Mrs. King, “ the end, except to say that I hope 
you won’t like Surfside so well that you’ll forget 
to come home now and then and tell me how you 
are making out. Of course I’ll have my boarders 
and work same’s you; still, there’ll be times when 
we won’t be busy and can see each other,” her 
voice trembled a little. “ Nobody will be more 
anxious to hear of your doings than I — remember 
that. I shall miss you, sonny. It’s the first time 
you’ve been away from me and I can’t but feel it’s 
a sort of milestone. You’ll be getting grown up 
and leaving home for good now before I know it, 
same as Bob has.” 

Her eyes glistened and for an instant she turned 
her head aside. 

“ Oh, I shan’t be branching out to make my for¬ 
tune yet, Mother,” protested Walter gayly. “ I 
don’t know enough. I’m not clever like Bob — you 
said so yourself only the other day.” 

“ You’re clever as is good for you,” was the 
ambiguous retort. “ I’m glad you’re no different.” 

“ Think of the money I’d be handing in if I 
could only earn as much as Bob.” 

“ The money? Aye, there’s no denying it would 
be a help. However, with what you and Bob and 
I are going to earn this summer we should make 
out very well, even if your Uncle Mark Miller has 
left us in the lurch and your Uncle Henry King’s 


WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING 


43 


investments have gone bad on us. I’ll be turning a 
tidy penny with my boarders, thanks to you. And 
for a lad your age ten dollars a week is not to be 
sneezed at. Why, we’ll have quite a little fortune 
between us! ” 

He saw her face brighten. 

“ Now if Bob could only be near at hand like 
you I believe I should be entirely happy,” she 
sighed. “ I hate to think of him way out there on 
that spit of sand with the sea booming all around 
him and nothing for company but the other fel¬ 
low, who’s asleep whenever he’s awake, and that 
clicking wireless instrument. Imagine the loneli¬ 
ness of it! The solitude would drive me crazy in¬ 
side a week — I know it would.” 

“ Bob doesn’t mind.” 

“ He’s not the lad to say so if he did,” replied 
the mother grimly. “ Nobody’d be any the wiser 
for what Bob thinks. Often at night I fall to 
wondering what he’d do was he to be taken sick.” 

“ Oh, he’d be all right, Mother,” answered His 
Highness cheerfully. “ O’Connel is there, you 
know.” 

“ And what kind of a nurse would he be, do you 
think, with his ear to that switchboard from day¬ 
light until dark? ” 

“ Not quite that, Mother.” 

“ Well, almost that, anyhow. It is all well 
enough for you to say so jauntily that Bob doesn’t 
mind being off there with the wind howling round 
him and nothing to do but listen to it.” 


44 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“Nothing to do!” repeated Walter. “Why, 
Ma, he’s busy all the time.” 

“ Tinkering with those wires, you mean? ” was 
the indignant question. “Yes, I grant he has 
plenty of that, especially in bad weather. But I 
mean pleasures-” 

“ Moving pictures, church sociables, strawberry 
festivals,” interrupted the lad mischievously. 

“Yes, I do,” maintained Mrs. King stoutly. 
“ Folks must have something to brighten up their 
lives. Bob doesn’t have a thing.” 

“ He often has days that are lively enough, ac¬ 
cording to his stories.” 

“ When there’s wrecks, you mean? ” She shook 
her head gravely. “ It isn’t those that I’m talking 
about. It’s sitting day after day and listening to 
the meaningless taps and buzzings that come whin¬ 
ing through that instrument.” 

“ They’re not meaningless to him.” 

“ No-o, I suppose not,” sighed the woman. For 
a moment she paused only to resume her com¬ 
plaints. “ Then there’s the responsibility of it. I 
never did like to think of that. Should he tap once 
too much or too little when sending one of those dot 
and dash messages, think what it might mean! 
And suppose he heard a dot too much and didn’t 
get the thing the other fellow was trying to tell him 
straight? ” 

“ But he has been trained so he does not make 
mistakes.” 

“ All human clay makes mistakes,” was the tragic 
answer, “ although I will say Bob makes fewer 


WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING 


45 

than most. And then the thunder storms — I’m 
always worried about those.” 

“Yes, I’ll confess there is some danger from 
lightning,” owned Walter unwillingly. “And of 
course there is danger from the current at all times 
if one is not careful. Even then accidents some¬ 
times happen. However, Bob explained once that 
accidental shocks seldom result fatally unless the 
person is left too long without help. The man in 
charge of the radio outfit would almost never get 
the full force of the current, because part of it 
would be carried of! through the wires and ground. 
Such accidents are mainly due to the temporary 
and faulty contact of the conductors.” 

“ I can’t help what they’re due to,” sniffed Mrs. 
King. “ The point is that Bob might get knocked 
out and die.” 

“ Nonsense, Mother. You would not worry if 
you understood more about it. Besides, should a 
man get a shock, if you go promptly to work over 
him and keep at it long enough, you can almost 
always bring him back to consciousness. They do 
just about the same things to restore him that 
they do for a person that’s been drowned. The 
aim is to make him breathe. If you can get him 
to, he will probably live. Of course, though, you 
have to break the circuit first.” 

“ The circuit? ” 

“ Stop the current that is going through his 
body,” explained Walter. 

“ But how can you? ” 

“ Bob told me how. He saw a chap knocked 


46 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

out once and helped fix him up. You had to be 
awfully careful about moving him away from the 
apparatus, Bob said, or you might get a shock your¬ 
self. They took a dry stick because it was a non¬ 
conductor of electricity, you know, and rolled the 
man over to one side, so he was out of reach of the 
wires. Had you covered your hands with dry 
cloth you could have moved him, too; Tubber 
gloves are best but Bob did not happen to have any 
handy at the minute. So they poked the fellow out 
of the way with the stick, turned him over on his 
back, loosened his collar and clothing, and went to 
work on him. You know how they always roll up 
a coat or something and stuff it under drowned 
persons’ shoulders to throw their head backward? 
Well, they did that; and afterward they began to 
move his arms up and down to make him breathe. 
The idea is to depress and expand the chest. We 
learned it in our ‘ first aid ’ class. Of course there 
are lots of things you have to do besides, and if you 
can get a doctor he will know of others that are 
better still. But Bob said the chief point was not to 
get discouraged and give up. Sometimes people 
die just because the folks fussing over them do not 
keep at it long enough. They get tired and when 
they see no results they decide it is no use and stop 
trying. You ought to work an hour anyhow, re¬ 
peating the exercises at the rate of sixteen times a 
minute, Bob said. Then, if the poor chap does not 
come to, you can at least feel you have done all you 
can.” 

“ Ugh! It makes me shiver to think of it! ” 


WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING 


47 

“ You didn’t shiver when Minnie Carlton fell 
off the float and almost got drowned,” remarked 
Walter significantly. 

“ I had too much to think of,” was Mrs. King’s 
laconic reply. 

“ It was the fussing you did over her that saved 
her life.” 

“ They said so.” 

“ You know it was.” 

“ Mebbe it was,” admitted his mother modestly. 
“ But it wasn’t any credit to me. I’ve always lived 
near the water and I feel at home with drowned 
people.” 

“ These electric accidents are much the same — 
easier, if anything, because the lungs are not filled 
with water.” 

“ I hadn’t thought of that.” 

“ This is just a straight case of making a man 
breathe. You did that for Minnie.” 

“ I contrived to, yes.” 

“ Well, this stunt is the same. Bob said if you 
once got that through your head and kept in mind 
what you were driving at instead of flying off the 
handle you would get on all right.” 

“ Perhaps he’s right. He generally is,” sighed 
Mrs. King. “ Still it is a worrisome business hav¬ 
ing him tinkering with those wires all the time. I 
am thankful you are not doing it. I’d rather you 
tended dogs.” 

“ But you’ve forgotten what they’re worth,” put 
in His Highness. 


48 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ So I had. Oh, dear! I don’t see but what 
I’ve got to worry about both of you.” 

“ Pooh, Ma! Don’t be foolish. Think of the 
money we’ll have by fall, the three of us. Why, 
we’ll be rich! ” 

“ Not rich, with that last payment on the mort¬ 
gage looming ahead.” 

“ But it is the last — think of that! We won’t 
ever have another to make.” 

A radiant smile flitted over Mrs. King’s face but 
a moment later it was eclipsed by a cloud. 

“ There’ll be other things to pay; there always 
are,” fretted she. 

“ Oh, shucks, Ma! Why borrow trouble? It’s 
always hanging round wanting to be borrowed. 
Why gratify it? ” 

“ I know. It is a foolish habit, isn’t it? Still, it 
was always my way to be prepared for the worst. 
I’ve done it all my life.” 

“ Then why not whiffle round now and just for a 
change be prepared for the best? ” 

In spite of herself his mother laughed. 

“ I expect that if I was as young as you and as 
happy-go-lucky I’d never worry,” she answered 
not unkindly. “ But since I’m made with a worry¬ 
ing disposition and bound to worry anyhow, at 
least I’ve got something perfectly legitimate to 
worry about this summer, and you can’t deny it. 
With one son liable to be electrocuted by wireless 
and the other likely to be run into jail for losing 
a million-dollar dog I shall have plenty to occupy 


WHAT WORRIED MRS. KING 


49 

my mind, not to mention all those boarders that 
are coming.” 

“ Now, Ma, you know you are actually looking 
forward to the boarders,” Walter declared. “ Al¬ 
ready you are simply itching to see them and find 
out what they are like.” 

“ And if I am, what then? ” admitted his mother 
flushing that she should have been read so accu¬ 
rately. “ Seeing them isn’t all there is to it by a 
good sight. There is feeding them, and to keep 
them filled up in this bracing climate is no small 
matter.” 

“ Did you ever know any one to go hungry in 
this house? ” 

“ Well, no; I can’t say I ever did.” 

“ Do you imagine boarders will eat more than 
Bob or I?” 

“ Mercy on us! I hope not.” 

“ Well, you always gave us enough to eat. I 
guess if you contrived to do that you needn’t worry 
about your boarders,” chuckled His Highness. 


CHAPTER IV 


WALTER MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER 

The last day of June dawned dismal and foggy. 
A grim gray veil enshrouded Lovell’s Harbor, ren¬ 
dering it cold and dreary. Had one been visiting 
it for the first time he would probably have turned 
his back on its forlornity and never have come 
again. The sea was wrapped in a mist so dense 
that its vast reach of waves was as complete a secret 
as if they had been actually curtained off from the 
land. On every leaf trembled beads of moisture 
and from the eaves of the sodden houses the water 
dripped with a melancholy trickle. 

It was wretched weather for the Crowninshields 
to be coming to Surfside and yet that they were 
already on the way the jangling telephone attested. 

“ I wouldn’t have had ’em put in an appearance 
a day like this for the world! ” fretted Jerry Taylor, 
who for some unaccountable reason seemed to hold 
himself responsible for the general dampness and 
discomfort. “ Fog ain’t nothin’ to us folks who are 
used to it. We’ve lived by the ocean long enough 
to love it no matter how it behaves. But for it to 
go actin’ up this way for strangers is a pity. It 
gives ’em a bad impression same’s a ill-behaved 
child does.” 


MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER 51 

“ But you can’t help it,” ventured Walter, who 
had just come into sight. 

“ N-o. Still, somehow, I’m always that anx¬ 
ious for the place to look it’s prettiest that I feel to 
blame when it doesn’t.” 

The boy nodded sympathetically. Deep down 
within him lay an inarticulate affection for the 
hamlet in which he had been born and the great 
throbbing sea that lapped its shores. He therefore 
understood Jerry’s attitude and shared in it far 
more than he would, perhaps, have been willing to 
admit. Nevertheless he merely knocked the drops 
from his rubber hat, muttered that it was a rotten 
day, and loitered awkwardly about, wondering just 
what to do. 

At last school was at an end. He had squeaked 
through the examinations with safety if not with 
glory, and having wheeled his small trunk up to 
Surfside on a wheelbarrow and deposited it in his 
room he speculated as to what to do next. There 
was plenty he might have done. There was no 
question about that. He might at the very moment 
have been unpacking his possessions, hanging his 
clothes in the closet, and stowing away his under¬ 
garments in the chest of drawers provided for the 
purpose. Moreover, there were books to tuck into 
place on his bookshelves and other minor duties 
relative to the settling of his new quarters. 

Oh, there were a score of things he might have 
done. His Highness, however, was in much too 
agitated a frame of mind to turn his attention to 
such humdrum tasks. Furthermore, since he had 


52 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

pledged himself to bear a hand wherever it was 
needed, he felt he should be on the spot and within 
call. And if beneath this worthy motive lurked a 
certain desire to see whatever there was to be seen, 
who can say his curiosity was not pardonable? 
One does not set forth every day to make his for¬ 
tune. The adventure was very alluring to him 
who had never tried it. 

Possibly Jerry Taylor had enough of the boy in 
him to understand this. However that might be, 
he did not hurry the lad indoors to unpack even 
though he sensed full well that precious time was 
being wasted; instead, as he started across the lawn 
he called back over his shoulder: 

“If you’ve nothing better to do, sonny, than to 
stand shivering in the barn, come along up to the 
house with me and help bring up some wood; I’m 
going to start fires burning in the rooms to cheer 
the folks up and dry ’em off when they get here. 
To my mind there ain’t nothin’ like an open fire to 
right you if you’re out of sorts. And likely they 
will be out of sorts. Mr. Crowninshield will, that’s 
sure. Now I myself don’t mind a gray day off and 
on. It’s sorter restful and calming. But these city 
people can’t see it that way. My eye, no! They 
begin to groan so you can hear ’em a mile away 
the minute the sun is clouded over; and by the sec¬ 
ond day of a good northeaster they are done for. 
You’d think to listen to ’em that the end of the 
world had come. No motoring! No golf! No 
tennis! Why, they might as well be dead. They 
begin to wonder why they ever came here anyway 


MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER 53 

and talk of nothing but how nice it is in New York. 
Why, you would split your sides laughing to hear 
Mr. Crowninshield moan for Wall Street and 
Fifth Avenue. Three days of fog is his limit. 
After that ropes couldn’t tie him here. He tumbles 
his traps into a suitcase and off he goes to the city.” 

“ Great Scott! ” Walter ejaculated. 

“ Oh, ’tain’t a bad thing to have him go, take it 
by and large. He ain’t much addition here when 
he’s fidgeting round, poking into everything and 
suggesting it better be done some other way. He’s 
much better off somewhere else — he’s happier and 
so are we. By and by he comes back again cheer¬ 
ful as if nothing had happened. Mebbe it’s as well 
you should be told what’s in store for you in foggy 
weather,” concluded Jerry, with a touch of humor, 
“ for you’ll come in for your share together with 
the rest of us. Everybody gets it. Most likely 
you’ll hear that an egg-beater is a much better thing 
to smooth down a dog’s hair with than a brush; 
that all the world knows that and only an idiot uses 
anything else. Don’t smile or venture a yip in 
reply. Just say you’ll be glad to use the egg-beater 
if he prefers it. Remark that, in fact, you quite 
hanker to try the egg-beater. To agree with him 
always takes the wind out of his sails quicker’n any¬ 
thing else. He’ll calm down soon as he sees you 
aren’t ruffled and go off and hunt up somebody 
else to reform. And when the fog blows out to 
sea his temper will go with it and he will forget 
he ever suggested an egg-beater. Oh, we under¬ 
stand the boss. He’s all right! If you only know 


54 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

how to take him you’ll never have a mite of trouble 
with him.” 

By this time they had reached the house and hav¬ 
ing removed rubbers and dripping coats they en¬ 
tered the basement door and proceeded to the cel¬ 
lar. It was not the sort of cellar with which His 
Highness was familiar although his mother’s cel¬ 
lar was clean, as cellars go. This one was immac¬ 
ulate. Indeed it seemed, on glancing about, that 
one might have done far worse than live in the 
Crowninshields’ cellar. Every inch of the interior 
was light, dry, and spotless with whitewash, paint, 
and tiling. Even the coal that filled the bins had 
taken on a borrowed glory and shone as if polished. 

“ This is my kingdom! ” announced Jerry proud¬ 
ly. “You could eat off the floor were you so 
minded.” 

“ I should say you could I ” 

“ When once you’ve set out it’s no more work 
to keep things shipshape than to let ’em go helter- 
skelter. Now here’s a basket. Load into it as 
many of those birch logs as you can carry and 
bring ’em upstairs. I’ve kindlings there already.” 

While Walter was obeying these instructions 
Jerry himself was piling up on his lank arm a pyra¬ 
mid of wood, and together the two ascended the 
stairway and tiptoed through the kitchen. As they 
went the boy caught a glimpse of gleaming por¬ 
celain walls; ebon-hued stoves resplendent with 
nickel trimmings; a blue and white tiled floor; and 
smart little window hangings that matched it. 

“ They don’t cook here! ” he gasped. 


MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER 55 

“ Everything in the house is electric,” explained 
Jerry, as if he were conducting a sight-seeing party 
through the Louvre. “ All the baking, washing, 
ironing, bread-making, and cleaning is done by 
electricity. There’s even an electric sewing-ma¬ 
chine to sew with, and an electric breeze to keep 
you cool while you’re doing it. If I hadn’t seen 
the thing with my own eyes I’d never have believed 
it.” 

He paused to watch the effect of his words. 

“ ’Tain’t much like the way you and me are used 
to,” he grinned. 

“ No.” 

“ I suppose in time you get so nothing knocks 
the breath out of you. I’m just coming to looking 
round here without feeling all of a flutter. The 
place did used to turn me endwise at first, it was 
so white and awesome. I actually hated to set foot 
within its walls. Seems’s if my fingers was always 
all thumbs every time I come inside the room. 
Still, I had to come in though; there were things I 
had to do here. So I schooled myself to forget 
the whiteness, and the blueness, and all the silvery 
glisten and call it just a kitchen. Besides, I found 
that grand as it is, it ain’t a patch on some of the 
other things in the house. My eye! It’s like the 
Arabian Nights!” 

The Cape Codder stopped quite speechless from 
retailing these marvels. 

“ Yes,” he went on presently, “ they’ve got almost 
everything the electric market has to offer. Last 
year, though, Mr. Dick got a hankerin’ for a wire- 


56 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

less set. It appears that you can buy an outfit that 
will make you hear concerts, sermons, speeches, and 
about everything that’s going on; at least that’s 
what Mr. Crowninshield undertook to tell me, 
though whether he was fooling or not I couldn’t 
quite make out. Still, it may be true. After what 
I’ve seen in this house I’m ready to believe about 
anything. Was he to say you could put your eye 
to a hole in the wall and see the Chinese eating rice 
in Hongkong it wouldn’t astonish me.” 

Walter laughed. 

“ You can hear music and such things. My 
brother, who is a wireless operator, told me so. 
They broadcast all sorts of entertainments — songs, 
band-playing, sermons, and stories so that those 
who have amateur apparatus can listen in.” 

“Broadcast? Listen in?” repeated Jerry 
vaguely. 

“ Broadcasting means sending out stuff of a spe¬ 
cified wave length from a central station so that 
amateurs with a range of from two hundred to 
three hundred meters can pick it up.” 

Jerry halted midway in the passage. 

“ Do you mean to say,” inquired he, “ that a per¬ 
son can sling a song off the top of a wire into the 
air and tell it to stop when it’s gone two hundred 
meters? ” 

“ Something like that,” chuckled Walter, 
amused. 

“ I don’t believe it! ” declared Jerry bluntly. 

“ But it can be done; really it can.” 

“No doubt you think you are speaking the truth, 


MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER 57 

youngster,” returned the skeptic mildly. “ Some¬ 
body’s stuffed you, though. Such a thing couldn’t 
be, any way in the world.” 

As if that were the end of the matter Jerry 
opened a door confronting him and stepped into 
the great hall, the splendor of which instantly blot¬ 
ted every other thought from Walter King’s mind. 

Not only was the interior spacious and imposing 
but it was bewilderingly beautiful and contained 
marvel after marvel that the lad longed to exam¬ 
ine. The large tiger-skin rugs that covered the 
floor piqued his interest, so did the chiming clock, 
and a fountain that welled up and splashed into a 
marble pool filled with goldfish. Why, he could 
have entertained himself for an hour with this lat¬ 
ter wonder alone! 

There was, however, no leisure for loitering for 
on hearing the cadence of the chimes Jerry ejacu¬ 
lated in consternation: 

“ Eleven o’clock already! Land alive! We’ll 
have to get the fires blazing lively. Why, the folks 
may be here any minute now. Here, hand me one 
of those long sticks you’ve got, sonny; or rather — 
wait! You know how to lay a fire, don’t you? ” 

“ I reckon I’ve done such a thing once or twice in 
my lifetime,” was the dry response. 

“ Then go ahead. You build this fire while I go 
upstairs and start the others,” said Jerry. “ After 
you’ve got this one going yoti can make one in the 
library, that red room through those curtains.” 

“ All right.” 

“ Step lively! Don’t take all day about it.” 


5 8 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

With awkward gesture Jerry swooped up some 
of the logs with his long arm and disappeared into 
the hall above. 

As for Walter, he had built too many fires in his 
mother’s kitchen stove and started too many blazes 
of driftwood on the beach to be at a loss as to how 
to proceed. Almost in a twinkling scarlet flames 
were roaring up the wide-throated chimneys and 
he had placed fenders before them to keep in cap¬ 
tivity any straying sparks. While he looked about 
for a spot in which to deposit the remaining birch 
sticks there was a sound of horns, a crunching of 
gravel, and Jerry’s scurrying feet came pattering 
down the stairs. 

“ It’s the folks! ” he announced excitedly. “ We 
warn’t a minute too soon. Tuck those logs into 
the brass box; pick up your cap, laddie, and light 
out of here quick.” 

The order, alas, came too late. His Highness 
had only time enough to hurry the birch wood into 
the box and bang down the cover before flying foot¬ 
steps filled the house, maids appeared from every 
door, and there was a blast of wind, a babel of 
voices, and the discomfited boy found himself face 
to face with his employers. 

His first impression of Mr. Crowninshield, muf¬ 
fled to the chin in a heavy motor coat, was of a 
large, red-cheeked man who, although he moved 
with little apparent stir, nevertheless in an incredi¬ 
bly short interval had shaken hands with most of 
the servants, directed where each piece of luggage 
was to be put, commented on a new lock on the 


MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER 59 

front door, and noticed that the clock was two min¬ 
utes slow. His moving eye had also been caught 
by the roses on the table and he turned to ask from 
which garden they came. 

“ All this he did, Ma,” explained Walter to his 
mother afterward, “ before you could say Jack 
Robinson. And in between he was scolding all the 
time about the weather and saying how idiotic it 
was to leave a warm, comfortable city like New 
York and come to a damp hole like the Cape.” 

“ Is this the best day you could manage to get 
together, Jerry? ” growled he. “ Pretty beastly, I 
call it.” 

“ It certainly is wet, sir.” 

“ Wet! I should say it was! It’s infernally wet 1 
How long is it going to keep up like this? ” 

“ I can’t say, sir.” 

“ Well, you have the sun out to-morrow or I 
shall go straight back where I came from. Little 
old New York is good enough for me when the 
place looks like this.” 

At that instant he espied His Highness lurking 
near a distant window. 

“ Who are you, young man? ” he called. 

“ Walter King, sir.” 

“ Oh, the young chap who is going to look after 
the dogs? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ Humph! Like dogs? ” 

“ I—yes, sir,” answered the lad at a warning 
glance from Jerry. 

Ruthlessly the hawklike eyes devoured him. 


60 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ So you think you can take care of a lot of prize 
pups, do you? ” 

“ I am going to try,” was the modest reply. 

“You can’t stop with trying, my son. You’ve 
got to do it,” announced the man sharply. 

“ I shall do my best.” 

“ That is all I shall ask.” 

A sudden smile melted the stern countenance into 
geniality and the master held out a hand. 

“ So King is your name.” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ It is a royal one and gives you something to live 
up to.” 

As the boy did not know what to answer he was 
silent. 

“ And you like dogs? ” said the inquisitor more 
kindly. 

“ I like all animals,” returned Walter evasively, 
“ and I am sure I shall like your dogs because you 
always like anything you take care of.” 

“ So you do! I remember when I was about 
your age I tamed an old brown weasel. He was a 
wretch of a creature with scarcely a virtue — cruel, 
deceitful, cold-blooded; and yet I grew to love that 
brute as much as if he had had the gentleness of a 
dove. You know how it is.” 

Walter nodded. For the moment the two came 
together on a plane of real contact and sympathy, 
and the smile the elder gave him bound the lad 
to his new employer as no spoken words could pos¬ 
sibly have done. 

But a second later Mr. Crowninshield’s mood 


MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER 61 

had changed and he was storming at Mary, the 
waitress, and demanding whether she meant to 
freeze them all by leaving the outside door open. 
Walter could see the girl flush red and as he 
leaped forward to close the door she flashed him 
a grateful, tremulous smile. Then Mr. Crownin- 
shield turned toward his wife. 

“ Mollie,” he replied, “ this is Walter King who 
is going to look after your dogs. Come and speak 
to him.” 

The mistress of the house came. She was wear¬ 
ing a long blue traveling coat and a jaunty little 
hat against which the gold of her hair was resplen¬ 
dent as sunshine. Tucked under her arm was a wee 
dog with soft brown fur and sharp little eyes. Mrs. 
Crowninshield was very pretty, especially when 
she spoke. As Walter looked into her face he 
found it so amazingly youthful that it was difficult 
for him to believe she was actually the mother of a 
grown son and daughter. 

“ So it is you who are to be master of the ken¬ 
nels? ” smiled she, showing her even white teeth. 

“ Yes, Mrs. Crowninshield,” faltered His High¬ 
ness, a trifle overcome by this new title. 

From head to foot her glance swept over him. 

“ Well,” said she at length, “ if you keep the 
puppies as tidy as you keep yourself I fancy we 
shall get on nicely together.” 

A flood of color mounted to the lad’s forehead. 
He had not anticipated such close inspection and 
instinctively he began to fumble with the corner 
of his sweater and look nervously down at his 


6 2 


WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


hands. They must be very dirty from making the 
fires. And he had been actually greeting Mr. and 
Mrs. Crowninshield with paws like those! The 
horror of it chilled his blood. 

Apparently the woman, with swift intuition, read 
his thought for she dimpled at him in friendly 
fashion. 

“ Do not worry about your hands, my boy,” said 
she. “ You have been doing useful things to soil 
them, things to bid us welcome and make us more 
comfortable. I can see you started out clean. I 
have a boy of my own, you know. Richard,” she 
went on, turning to a tall youth who was bending 
over the luggage, “ this is Walter King who is com¬ 
ing to look after the kennels. He must be about 
your age.” 

The boys stared at each other awkwardly. 

“ I am fifteen,” announced Walter for the lack 
•of something more brilliant to say. 

“ I beat you by a year,” was the shy retort of 
the other boy. “ I am sixteen.” 

Then Nancy interrupted them with her breezy 
comment. 

“ Fifteen, are you? ” she put in. u My, I should 
not have thought it! You must be pretty crazy 
about dogs to give up all your summer vacation to 
them.” 

“ My mother needs the money,” was the simple 
answer. 

“ Oh!” 

He saw her blush as if regretting her thoughtless 
remark. 


MAKES HIS BOW TO HIS EMPLOYER 63 

u It is nice of you to help your mother,” she ob¬ 
served quickly. “ I am sure you will not find the 
place so bad. We shall try to make you happy.” 

With that she was gone but she left behind her a 
memory of sweetness and appealing kindliness. 

“ You might run out to the garage now, sonny,” 
declared Jerry with a desire to help the lad make 
his escape. “ They will be landing the pups there 
soon, and you may as well be on hand. 

Only too glad to beat a retreat His Highness 
picked up his cap and slipping from the room raced 
across the lawn in the direction of his own quarters. 


CHAPTER V 


THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES 

Jerry’s prediction proved to be quite true for as 
H is Highness neared the garage a hum of activity 
pervaded it. Four mud-caked cars stood in the 
driveway and chauffeurs in their shirt sleeves hur¬ 
ried in and out the building, shouting to one 
another and carrying in their hands grimy rags and 
cans of oil. A short half hour had transformed the 
quiet spot to a beehive of noise and bustle. The 
rush seemed contagious for wherever one looked 
moving figures could be seen. Some crossed the 
lawn bearing belated satchels or traveling wraps 
which in the confusion had found their way into 
the wrong place; some strode toward the boathouse, 
some toward the garden, some to the stables. Men 
appeared to have risen through the earth so 
quickly had their numbers multiplied. 

No longer was there the leisurely loitering and 
smoking that had marked the week before. A 
spirit of activity was infused into the air until even 
those who had no cause to hurry scrambled with 
the rest. 

As Walter approached the garage he was way¬ 
laid by a young chauffeur with rosy cheeks and a 
crisp, pleasant voice: 


THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES 65 

“ Say, youngster, don’t you want to lend a hand 
with these cushions? ” interrogated he, beaming in¬ 
gratiatingly. “ They have got to be beaten and 
brushed before they can go back in the car. Chuck 
them over on the floor for me, won’t you? ” 

“ Sure! ” was the ready answer. “ I’ll beat them 
for you if you like.” 

“ You’re a good-natured little cuss,” grinned the 
man. “ I’m not asking you to do that, though.” 

“ But I’d be glad to.” 

“ Suit yourself. But in my opinion you are a 
fool to take on jobs you are not hired to do and get 
no money for.” 

“ Oh, I don’t care about the money.” 

“ You don’t, eh? ” chimed in the derisive note of 
another chauffeur who had at the instant come out 
of the doorway. “ Say, who are you, anyway? 
One of the Vanderbilts? ” 

u Quit heckling the young one, Peters,” put in 
the chauffeur of the red cheeks. “ He’s a good sort, 
all right.” 

“Ha, ha, Wheeler! You think that because 
you’ve jollied him into doing your work for you, 
you old shirk.” 

“ I didn’t jolly him into anything. He offered.” 

“ A likely story.” 

“ But he did.” 

“ Then you should have told him better,” sniffed 
the other. “You know well enough it isn’t eti¬ 
quette round here to do a stroke of work for any¬ 
body else or accept a stroke. Every man for him¬ 
self is the motto.” 


66 


WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


“But that’s a rotten way!” Walter ejaculated 
impulsively. “I’d hate to live like that — never 
being willing to help anybody or ask them to help 
me.” 

The man called Peters gave him a contemptuous 
stare. 

“ You’ll find there’s no whining or asking help of 
other people here,” announced he, with a sneer. 
“ Those that are darn fools enough to get into holes 
get out of them as best they can. It’s their hunt.” 

Spitting emphatically on the ground he pro¬ 
ceeded to go into the garage with the tire he was 
carrying. 

Walter took up a stick he saw lying near by. 

“ What are you going to do? ” demanded the red¬ 
cheeked man, regarding him with unconcealed sur¬ 
prise. 

“ Beat the cushions.” 

“But — but — heavens, sonny! Didn’t you hear 
what Peters said? ” 

“ Of course I heard. I don’t have to sign up to 
a creed like that, though, if I don’t want to, do I? ” 

“ We all do. We agree neither to borrow, lend, 
nor ask favors.” 

“ I’m afraid I shan’t make one of the gang then,” 
observed Walter, with a smile so good-humored 
that the words could not offend. 

“ Then the more fool you, that is all I can say,” 
laughed Wheeler. “ By the end of a month you 
won’t have so much as a collar button to your name. 
Everything you own will be gone, especially your 


THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES 67 

tools. We’re a lot of pirates. I give you fair 
warning.” 

“ Pm not afraid you’ll want much that I’ve got,” 
grinned Walter. 

The upraised stick descended in a series of rhyth¬ 
mic blows, sending into the air a cloud of dust. 

“ Where’s the brush? ” panted the boy, when he 
had beaten until his arm ached. 

“ Say, kid, I’m not going to have you breaking 
your back over my job,” asserted Wheeler in a 
friendly tone. 

“ I’m not breaking my back.” 

“ But what on earth are you doing it for? ” ques¬ 
tioned the man, his eyes narrowing with curiosity. 

“ I don’t know myself,” returned the lad shyly. 
“ It was just the way I was brought up, I guess.” 

For an interval only the sweeping of the brush 
broke the stillness. 

“ I was brought up to be decent, too,” observed 
Wheeler slowly, “ but somehow since I’ve been 
knocking round I’ve got to be an awful brute. 
There isn’t any very high standard among the 
crowd I mix in. Still, I’m afraid that isn’t much 
of an excuse for shifting back into a savage.” He 
paused thoughtfully, then added, “ I’m much 
obliged to you, sonny, for your help, and just to 
show you I don’t forget it, sometime when you are 
hard put hunt me up and ask me to give you a lift. 
I’m a human being though you may not think so.” 

With a little glow at his heart Walter moved 
away toward the kennels. 

He had made a friend, and in this new environ- 


68 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

ment where he was conscious of being very much of 
an outsider the consciousness brought him a sense 
of comradeship and happiness. 

It was fortunate, however, that his altruism had 
detained him no longer for before he reached 
the spot where the dogs were to be quartered he 
heard a chorus of sharp yelps and saw what ap¬ 
peared to be a dozen dogs coming across the lawn 
accompanied by Mrs. Crowninshield and two of 
the stablemen. Some of the pack were being led, 
while others, wild with joy at finding themselves 
unconfined, leaped and capered wildly about their 
mistress. A great police dog, straining at the 
leash, gave Walter a thrill of mingled admiration 
and timidity. He was a huge creature with mottled 
coat and mighty jaws, and within his open mouth, 
from which lolled his red tongue, were cruel white 
teeth that could do unthinkable things. His wide 
brown eyes, his pointing tail, his upright ears mov¬ 
ing with every sound, his alert poise all bespoke 
keenness and intelligence. A dog one would far 
rather have for an ally than an enemy, thought the 
boy. 

Beside pranced two Airedales and a white Sealy- 
ham and to their babel of barking was added the 
shrill, sympathetic note of five or six Pekingese, one 
of which Mrs. Crowninshield carried under her 
arm. 

“Hush, Achilles!” she cried. “Hush, all of 
you! Stop your racket this instant! They are ex¬ 
cited at being together again,” explained she to 
Walter who had approached. “ The Belgian and 


THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES 69 

Airedales have been boarded out during the win¬ 
ter and have not seen the others for months. So, 
you see, this is a sort of reunion for them and they 
have to bark to show their delight. Moreover, they 
have had a long trip and are tired and hungry. I 
am going to feed them now and this meal will last 
most of them until to-morrow at the same hour.” 

“ Are they fed only once a day? ” gasped Walter. 

“ That is all. You see you will not have many 
meals to prepare,” laughed Mrs. Crowninshield. 
“ Only the Peeks have breakfast, but only part of 
a square of puppy biscuit or some bread; so it is 
very simple. Dinner, however, is much more 
complicated and later I shall give you your direc¬ 
tions as to just what every dog must have; to-night 
we are to treat the lot to some raw meat, toast, and 
spinach.” 

“ You’ll let me help you,” pleaded Walter. 

“ Certainly. That is why I came out. I want 
you to feed the dogs and learn their names. In 
order to get on with them you must get acquainted 
with them and understand the peculiarities of each 
one. They are just persons, you know, and have 
their little whims and queernesses. But kindness 
will win them to you very quickly. It is far better 
than a whip. So is feeding. A dog usually obeys 
the person who feeds him. He is afraid not to.” 

As she spoke she entered the wired enclosure and 
putting the smaller dogs in half of it and shutting 
the wicket gate upon them she told the men to slip 
the leashes from the collars of the others. In a sec¬ 
ond the Belgian, Airedales, and the fluffy Sealyham 


7 o WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

were bounding about her. Then she beckoned to 
Walter. 

“ This is Achilles,” went on she, with her hand 
on the head of the great monster. “He is as gentle 
and kind as a kitten, although he does look as if 
he could swallow us alive. Don’t touch him but 
stand still and let him sniff you all over. It is his 
way of getting acquainted.” 

Obediently the boy remained motionless while 
the panting jaws and moist black nose of the dog 
came nearer. He could feel the creature’s hot 
breath on his hands, face, and hair. Then over his 
clothing moved the quivering nostrils. At length 
the brown eyes met his and he whispered softly: 

“ Achilles!” 

*The dog wagged his tail. 

“ You have nothing to fear from him now,” an¬ 
nounced Mrs. Crowninshield. “ The Airedales 
are Jack Horner and Boy Blue. And the Sealy- 
ham, Miss Nancy’s dog, is called Rags.” 

Sensing that he was being talked about, the dog 
blinked with friendly eyes at Walter through its 
mop of coarse white hair. 

“ In the other pen,” continued Mrs. Crownin¬ 
shield, “ are the Pekingese pups and I shall expect 
you to take the best of care of them. They are sen¬ 
sitive little creatures and very valuable. I myself, 
however, care very little for the money value of a 
dog. It is the lovable traits it has that interest me. 
I should adore wee Lola, here, if she were not 
worth a cent. But Mr. Crowninshield likes to 
own blue ribbon dogs and enter them at the shows 


THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES 71 

and therefore I will caution you that Lola, Mimi, 
and Fifi,” as she spoke she pointed out the dogs in 
question, “ cost quite a fortune and their loss or 
illness would be a great calamity. So you must 
follow the directions concerning them most care¬ 
fully. And should any question arise about them 
come at once to me.” 

As she spoke she occasionally glanced at the boy 
beside her with a quick, bright smile. 

“ I shall have the menu for each dog sent you 
everyday—at least for the present — together 
with directions as to how to prepare the meal as it 
should be prepared. The meat for the small dogs 
must be put through a meat chopper and no gristle 
allowed to get into it; the larger dogs can have big¬ 
ger pieces, and Achilles a bone. You will find in 
the room inside an ice chest in which to keep such 
foods as spoil. There are also glassed-in shelves 
where tins of various kinds of dog bread and puppy 
biscuit will be stored that they may be out of the 
dampness. You are not to trouble the servants at 
the big house for anything. They do not like to 
be interfered with. All your supplies will be here, 
and you can warm whatever it is necessary to heat 
on your small electric stove. Be sure to scald out 
the dishes after they have been used; and also never 
forget to keep the bowls filled with plenty of fresh 
water.” 

“ I will, ma’am.” 

“ I am sure you will,” returned Mrs. Crownin- 
shield kindly. “ And do not worry if it takes a 
little time to win all the dogs over to your author- 


72 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

ity. Dogs are like children when they change mas¬ 
ters. They will try to play it on you at first. Just 
be firm with them and soon you will have them tag¬ 
ging at your heels, docile as lambs.’’ 

The task of preparing the food was soon com¬ 
pleted and the mistress looked on and encouraged 
while Walter doled it out to the famished animals. 

How daintily the wee dogs coquetted with what 
was given them! And how greedily the larger ones 
gobbled down their allowance and lapped the plate 
for more! Achilles, crouched on the lawn with his 
bone, crunched it with terrifying zeal, cracking the 
big joint between his jaws as if it were made of 
paper. His dinner devoured he ambled over to¬ 
ward Walter, once more sniffed his shoes and cloth¬ 
ing, at last nestled his moist nose against the boy’s 
hand. 

“ I think you have won Achilles to your colors 
already,” said Mrs. Crowninshield. 

“ He does seem friendly,” returned His High¬ 
ness, more pleased by the dog’s good will than he 
would have been willing to own. 

“ Achilles can be very friendly when he chooses,” 
retorted his owner. “ He can also be quite the re¬ 
verse. You should see him sometime when he is 
on the scent of a foe. Last summer when a man 
broke into the boathouse it transformed Achilles 
into a lion. I was certain he would kill the fellow; 
as it was he mauled him badly before we could coax 
him off. The thief almost died of fright and I do 
not wonder. He did not need any further punish¬ 
ment.” 


THE CONQUEST OF ACHILLES 73 

She unfastened the gate to go back to the house. 

Immediately there was a rush. 

“ No, you can’t come, not one of you,” declared 
she, addressing the yelping pack through the net¬ 
ting. “ I have far too much to do to be bothered 
with any of you. Be good and take a nap. You’re 
tired enough to rest.” 

Still the animals barked, rebellious at their cap¬ 
tivity. 

“ When I am out of sight you can let Achilles 
out,” called she, as she moved away. “ He can 
be trusted to roam the place and always does when 
we’re here. The Airedales and the Sealyham can 
also run about alone as soon as they get used to 
obeying you. But the little dogs must never be let 
off the leash unless they are watched every instant, 
for something might happen to them.” 

“ I’ll be careful.” 

“ That’s right; do.” 

The woman gave him a pleasant nod of farewell 
and walked with springing step back in the direc¬ 
tion of the house. As she went Walter saw her 
halt and speak to old Tim, who was at work in the 
rose garden, and beheld the gardener leap proudly 
forward to cut for her a blossom she had evidently 
admired. 

It was even as Jerry had said. She was the idol 
of Surfside. 

After she had disappeared he opened the wicket 
and stepped out, letting Achilles follow him. 

Instantly the great creature put his nose to the 


74 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

ground and with a joyous bark he was gone in 
search of his mistress. 

It was now or never with the new master of the 
hounds. 

The lad whistled but the dog did not turn. 
Again he gave a quick call. This time the rushing 
beast paused, looked round, and then slackening his 
pace, continued to jog along on his way. 

Helplessly the boy saw him go farther and far¬ 
ther out of reach. 

He must compel obedience somehow. 

“ Achilles!” shouted he sternly. “ Achilles! 
Back, sir! ” 

Although he uttered the words he had not the 
slightest faith they would have any effect and was 
amazed to see the dog waver in his tracks. 

“Achilles, come here!” repeated he sharply. 

With reluctance the dog turned and looked at 
him. 

“Here, sir!” called Walter, with coaxing ca¬ 
dence. 

The dog continued to regard him intently but he 
did not move. Then suddenly there was a rush 
and with panting jaws widespread the Belgian 
came bounding toward him. It was not until he 
was close at hand that he abated his speed. Then 
he came to the side of his new master and gently 
laid his cold nose on his sleeve. 

Walter patted the great head affectionately. 

The battle was won. He had conquered 
Achilles. 


CHAPTER VI 


HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE 

Before a week had passed the strangeness of liv¬ 
ing at Surfside had to a certain extent abated and 
Walter found himself not only content in his new 
position but enjoying it. He rose early, feeding 
the dogs, exercising them, and making fresh their 
quarters before he breakfasted himself. Afterward, 
despite the score of odd duties with which the 
morning was filled, he contrived to do many little 
kindnesses for Jerry, Tim, Wheeler, and the other 
men. He was always willing to do a favor and 
amid an atmosphere where generosity was rare the 
virtue of aiding others rendered him immensely 
popular. 

In the meantime he had made such headway in 
the affections of Achilles that the big Belgian not 
only tagged at his heels everywhere he went, but 
at night insisted upon extending his giant frame 
before the boy’s doorsill from which vantage 
ground neither threats nor persuasions could stir 
him. In consequence the lonely hours the lad 
might have experienced were put to rout by the 
companionship of this silent comrade. 

The Airedales, on the other hand, were less suc¬ 
cessfully won over to a new allegiance. Although 


76 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

Richard, who owned them, took not the smallest 
care of them and serenely passed them over to 
some one else to be ministered unto, nevertheless 
they apparently sensed the arrangement was one of 
convenience and returned scant gratitude for what 
was done for them. They were polite, tolerant, 
but never whole-heartedly cordial. Dick was their 
master and they would have no other. 

Fortunately Miss Nancy’s Sealyham, Rags, was 
more responsive; nevertheless, although she frol¬ 
icked about Walter’s feet and accepted food from 
his hand it was more because she loved to play and 
was hungry than because her affection for the boy 
went very deep. 

As for the troupe of Pekingese, with aristocratic 
noses tilted high in air, they submitted to being 
washed, brushed, and fed by Walter much as they 
would have accepted the services of any other maid 
or valet. They seemed to be conscious of their 
pedigree and claim attention as their right. An 
occasional wag of the tail or the rare passage of 
a rough little tongue across one’s hand was all the 
gratitude His Highness ever received from them. 

With the Crowninshield family, however, the 
boy made better progress and as he and Dick be¬ 
came acquainted many a pleasant hour did they 
spend together. Not infrequently, when the eager 
yelps of the dogs heralded the fact that they were 
off for their afternoon run, the New York lad 
would join the party and while the animals raced 
this way and that the two boys would discuss boats, 
fishing, and kindred interests. 



The two boys would discuss boats, fishing, and 
kindred interests. Page 76. 





HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE 77 

“ Do you happen to know anything about wire¬ 
less? ” inquired Richard one day when, with 
Achilles prancing far ahead and Boy Blue, Jack 
Horner, and Rags dashing to keep up with him, 
the group strode along the beach. 

“ I ought to,” was Walter’s smiling response. 
“ I’ve a brother who is an operator at the Seaver 
Bay station.” 

“ No! Really? ” The exclamations voiced both 
surprise and admiration. “ How old is he? ” 

“ Twenty-two or three.” 

“ Gee! And he can really send and receive mes¬ 
sages? ” 

“ He sure can.” 

“ How did he learn? ” 

“ Oh, he first got interested in wireless through 
the papers and picked up quite a lot of informa¬ 
tion that way. Later he and his chum Billy Hicks 
bought a manual and with the help of the physics 
teacher at the High School they rigged up a home¬ 
made receiving apparatus on Billy’s grandfather’s 
barn. For a while it wouldn’t work for a cent, al¬ 
though they tinkered with it night and day. Then 
one evening they did something to it and caught 
their first message. You should have seen Bob! 
He was crazy and came rushing straight home to 
make Ma drop everything she was doing and go 
down to Hicks’s. Now Mother was elbow-deep in 
bread and declared she couldn’t spoil her biscuit 
for any wireless on earth. Besides, she had never 
had any faith in the thing. You see, Bob had teased 
her for wireless money and she had told him time 


78 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

and time again it was dollars thrown into a hole. 
My father used to joke her about not having a sci¬ 
entific mind and I guess she hasn’t one. At any 
rate, whenever Bob would read her the wonderful 
things being done with wireless, all she would say 
was that it wasn’t likely folks could send speeches 
and music loose through the air. Those who pre¬ 
tended to hear them were either fibbing or were 
genuinely mistaken. So when Bob did get a broad¬ 
cast you can imagine how wild he was to convince 
her it wasn’t all bluff.” 

“ And did he? ” asked Dick with interest. 

“ Well, after a fashion,” replied Walter, smiling 
at some amusing memory. 

“ Like enough I shouldn’t have known much 
about it, either, if Bob had not told me,” continued 
Walter. “ Bob, however, talked nothing else morn¬ 
ing, noon, and night. Often I would drop asleep 
while he was chattering of induction coils, wave 
lengths, and antenna. It makes me yawn now to 
think of it. My goodness, weren’t Ma and I sick 
to death of hearing nothing but radio! Bob would 
rush into the house at mealtime, swallow his food 
whole, and tear off to Hicks’s with a piece of pie in 
his hand, leaving all the chores to me. I got pretty 
sore, I can tell you.” He gave a short laugh. 

“ Between Mother begrudging the poor chap 
every cent he spent for batteries and wire, and me 
pitching into him for forgetting to chop the kind¬ 
lings, I’m afraid his early wireless career wasn’t a 
very pleasant one.” 


HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE 79 

Once more the lad laughed, this time with comic 
ruefulness. 

“ Even when the apparatus actually did begin 
to work and Bob and Billy were able to get a con¬ 
cert or lecture now and then, Ma insisted they 
were bluffing her. She listened in but wasn’t con¬ 
vinced, declaring they had fastened a victrola to 
the receivers and that such sounds never could 
come through the air. Finally they did succeed 
in getting her to half believe they were telling her 
the truth and were not just working her for money. 
But when they tried to explain the outfit to her in 
detail, she put her hands over her ears, protesting 
that they were wasting their breath to tell her of 
damped and undamped waves, detectors, and gen¬ 
erators. With that they gave up further attempts 
to educate her.” 

Both boys chuckled. 

“ But she must be proud of your brother now,” 
asserted Dick. 

“Oh, she is — tremendously, although what she 
chiefly thinks about is the danger Bob is in of get¬ 
ting struck by lightning or electrocuted.” 

Achilles, who had been pursuing some sandpip¬ 
ers along the rim of the surf and sent them cir¬ 
cling into the air, now raced back to his friends 
with a sharp bark of salutation and Dick bent to 
pat the shaggy head. 

“ So really,” reflected he,” your brother taught 
himself wireless.” 

“Not wholly. He simply laid a foundation,” 
the other boy explained. “ He could never have 


8o WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


taken a job on what he had picked up because, you 
see, he knew nothing of sending messages, was 
ignorant of all the rules an operator has to have 
at his tongue’s end, and had no very thorough 
knowledge of electricity. It was not like a com¬ 
plete training, by any means. The war gave him 
that. When it broke out he enlisted in the navy, 
and because he was partially equipped in radio 
they sent him off posthaste to a wireless school. At 
the time he was crazy because his dream was to get 
across and be in the fighting. To sit at home study¬ 
ing was the last thing he wanted to do. Later, 
though, when he began to see what a big part wire¬ 
less was playing in the scrimmage, he commenced 
to be more resigned to his lot. Besides he got 
his chance before long, for he worked into being a 
crackerjack at speed and passed his exams so well 
that he had no trouble in winning his first-class op¬ 
erator’s certificate. 

“ There are grades of radio men, you know, just 
as there are grades of everything else. There are 
the sharks, or first-class chaps, who are able to 
pass every sort of test on the adjustment of appa¬ 
ratus and how to use it; who can both send and re¬ 
ceive messages at the rate of at least twenty words 
a minute, and who can often go much faster; and 
who have all the rules governing the exchange of 
radio messages stowed away in their heads. They 
are the Ai men and every first-class ship is obliged 
by law to have aboard it two of them. Then there 
are the second-class certificate fellows who practi¬ 
cally have as much radio but cannot hit such a gait, 


HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE 81 

and can only manage to send between twelve and 
nineteen words a minute. They can go on first- 
class ships provided more skilled operators are 
aboard. Sometimes, even, they substitute for them 
under supervision. Their chief jobs, however, are 
on ships that use wireless only for their per¬ 
sonal benefit; that is, to talk with their own crews. 
Often a fishing fleet, for instance, will carry a man 
of this class to communicate with its other vessels. 
They can talk, too, with shore stations when it is 
necessary. But the law does not allow them to take 
positions where there is a great rush of business 
and general responsibility. They must have the 
topnotchers for such work.” 

“ I had no idea there were so many rules about 
radio,” mused Dick. 

“ There are — strict ones, too,” replied his com¬ 
panion. “ Moreover, the government keeps tabs 
on all radio people to see they obey the rules. 
Every wireless man is examined, classified, and 
given a license just as an automobile driver is. He 
has to keep it handy, too, and be ready to trot it out 
on request. You can’t get by with bluffing. If an 
operator is found to be unfamiliar with the rules, or 
is discovered breaking any of them, his certificate 
can be withdrawn. No chap wants to risk that, 
especially if he is trying to earn his living by wire¬ 
less. And if a ship, and not its radio operator, is 
found to be breaking the rules, the coastal 
stations may be notified not to have anything to do 
with her. In other words she is boycotted and the 


82 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

land operators told neither to receive her messages 
nor answer them.” 

“ That would be some boycott! ” 
li The shipboard radio stations, you see, come un¬ 
der the authority of the commanding officer of the 
ship. It has to be so, because in case of accident 
he would be the person responsible for sending out 
distress calls and answering them. The radio man 
couldn’t just grab the power. There has to be one 
boss of every job.” 

“ I can see that,” nodded Dick. “ But why such 
a network of other rules? ” 

“ There have to be. It all has to be charted in 
black and white or there would be terrible mix- 
ups.” 

“ And do foreign ships have to fall into line and 
do as our ships do when they come here? ” 

“ They are expected to, Bob said,” answered 
Walter. “ In case they do not, however, they can¬ 
not be meddled with by underlings. Instead they 
are immediately reported to the government and 
the two countries involved settle their dispute by 
arbitration. It is too delicate a matter for others 
to butt in on, for some blunderer might offend an¬ 
other country and get us into war just through be¬ 
ing stupid. Conversely, when our ships are in for¬ 
eign waters they must keep the naval rules of the 
nation they are visiting.” 

“ That’s fair.” 

“ It sure is,” agreed Walter. “ Besides that, all 
the shipboard radio stations have to carry with 
them their license to prove that they are authorized 


HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE 83 

by their countries to operate a wireless outfit, 
and that they fulfil the requirements of the 
government whose flag they fly. Should any trou¬ 
ble arise when they are in a foreign port they can 
be asked to produce this license; and if the foreign 
authorities whom they are visiting have reason to 
suspect they are not meeting the standards the li¬ 
cense demands they can complain to the govern¬ 
ment that is responsible for the ship.” 

“ But suppose the government didn’t know any¬ 
thing about such a ship? ” 

“ Great Scott! But it does, man,” ejaculated 
Walter. “ There are lists that contain not only the 
name and nationality of all ships but even the 
names and addresses of its radio operators. There 
is no getting by that.” 

“ So the ships themselves are not allowed to take 
up their own quarrel if they are challenged? ” com¬ 
mented Dick. 

“ No. They simply have to stay perfectly polite 
and keep their mouths shut, no matter how mad 
they are,” grinned His Highness. “ Otherwise 
there would be squabbles all the time, for there 
are always misunderstandings and grudges, and 
people who enjoy picking on one another. All the 
ships would be fighting and the countries that 
owned them, too, if everybody rolled up his sleeves 
and pitched into the other fellow when things went 
wrong. Governments are supposed to be more 
slow-moving, fair, and impartial. And anyhow, it 
is their job to look out for their own citizens and 
see they are squarely treated. Bob says it is a more 


84 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

dignified way than for individuals to fight out their 
own quarrels. It certainly carries more weight. 
Nobody is going to bully a ship and make trouble 
for its crew if a big nation stands behind it. It 
serves as a check on the men, too, Bob told me, for 
when they are in other countries and have shore 
leave they have to remember that they must behave 
themselves and not disgrace their governments.” 

“ You can’t sail out of reach of Uncle Sam, eh? 
Apparently he knows in a general wdy just how 
you are conducting yourself all the time,” smiled 
Dick. 

“ That’s about it,” acquiesced Walter. 

Whistling to the dogs, they turned about. 

“ What a pile you know about all this,” Dick 
presently observed. 

“ Shucks! No, I don’t,” blushed His Highness. 
“ I am only repeating what Bob spieled off to me. 
He likes to talk when he’s home and I like to listen. 
It’s interesting— at least I think so. Besides, I’m 
proud of Bob knowing such a lot. I wish I did.” 

The lad dug his heel into the moist sand and 
watched the hole fill with water. 

“ Somehow I’m an awful boob at books,” he sud¬ 
denly confessed. “ I hate so to study that Ma fairly 
has to haul me along by the hair or I’d never go 
to school. I barely skinned through this year. Up 
to the very last minute we all had cold chills for 
fear I wouldn’t.” 

Dick shot the offender a sympathetic glance. 

“ I don’t like reading about things myself so 
well as doing them,” he confided. “ I’m crazy 


HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE 85 

about machinery. It’s fun to tinker with it — take 
it to pieces and put it together again. I like noth¬ 
ing better than to overhaul an engine. 

He held up two grease-stained hands. 

“ It horrifies my mother,” he continued, “ but my 
father doesn’t seem to mind if I am all black with 
oil from my car or the motor boats. What I want 
now is a wireless outfit. I’m going to strike Dad 
for one my birthday. It comes the last of this 
month and he might as well give me that as any¬ 
thing else. Do you suppose if he got it we could 
rig it up together? ” 

Walter’s eyes opened at the casualness of the ob¬ 
servation. 

In his family a birthday was an occasion for a 
chocolate cake, some neckties, and perhaps a pair 
of rubber boots or a similar useful gift. Or it 
sometimes brought with it a book and a box of 
candy. Never by any chance did its felicitations 
expand into a gift so colossal as a wireless appa¬ 
ratus. The breach between the two lads, which 
during the exchange of confidences had narrowed 
into nothingness, widened abruptly. 

“ A good set would be some present,” he com¬ 
mented, thinking, perhaps, the other boy might be 
ignorant of its value. 

“ Oh, I guess it would not break Dad,” smiled 
Dick serenely. “ He gave me my car last year, 
and the year before — let me think — oh, the 
pups! ” He pointed to the Airedales, a streak of 
buff against the green of the distant marsh. 
“ Wireless couldn’t cost much more.” 


86 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


“ N—o, I don’t believe it would,” His Highness 
admitted slowly, the contrast in their financial 
standards seeping in on him. 

“ Oh, I imagine I could have a set all right if I 
said the word,” continued Dick, with the indiffer¬ 
ence of one to whom such presents brought no agi¬ 
tation. “ The question is, could we set it up if we 
had it?” 

“ I couldn’t,” came promptly from Walter. “ I 
think, though, that if Bob was home on leave he 
might help us.” 

“ Your brother? I had forgotten him. So he is 
at home sometimes? ” 

“ Oh, yes. He gets off for a day now and then.” 

“ It must be a whole lot of a bore to be tied down 
in a wireless station listening for messages all the 
time,” observed Dick carelessly. 

“ Operators do not have to sit with their ears 
glued to the receivers every second, man,” declared 
the village lad. “ The men are relieved at regular 
hours. Besides, all stations both on shore and on 
shipboard are divided into classes and have their 
hours carefully mapped out for them. There are 
three different varieties of shipboard stations, for 
example. Some have constant service; that is, op¬ 
erators are always listening while the ship is under¬ 
way. Then there is a second sort where the opera¬ 
tor listens in only during specified hours when the 
office is open for business. A third class has no 
fixed hours at all, the radio man just listening the 
first ten minutes of each hour.” 

“ So the men just suit themselves, eh? ” 


HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE 87 

“ Suit themselves! You bet they don’t,” laughed 
Walter. “The government defines their hours 
when their license is issued. The class they are 
put in decides it.” 

“ That’s news to me,” said Dick. “ And the shore 
stations? ” 

“ The shore stations are a chapter in themselves,” 
Walter replied. “ There are several different kinds 
and each kind has its own rules.” 

“ You don’t propose to tell me about them, then,” 
retorted the New Yorker mischievously. 

“ It’s too long a yarn,” answered the other. “ Be¬ 
sides, I might not get it straight. Sometime, 
though, if you want me to, I’ll pass on what I know. 
But to-day I guess we ought to be hiking back. It 
is close) onto the time the pack is fed and I may 
have them yelping at my throat if I don’t hurry.” 

Quickening their pace the boys whistled to the 
dogs who came dashing through the clumps of bay- 
berry that dotted the field. They were panting 
with thirst and only too ready to turn homeward. 
Across the sandy hillocks, through pine-shaded 
stretches of woods, along the road walled in with 
June roses they raced and chased, stopping now 
and again to look back and make certain that their 
masters were following. When the spit of sand 
narrowed to a ribbon and the entrance to Surfside 
was reached they halted, lying down to cool off in 
the fresh sea breeze until they should be overtaken. 
At the gate Dick and Walter parted. 

It was amusing to see the Airedales waver, then 


88 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

lured by hunger, desert their owner and pursue 
Walter and Achilles. 

They came up with lolling tongues at the ken¬ 
nels just as His Highness was unlocking the door. 

While he fumbled with the latch he noticed 
they sniffed excitedly about and that Achilles 
barked. 

“You’re starved, poor old chaps!” remarked 
he aloud. “ Well, no matter. You shall have your 
dinner right off now.” 

Coaxing them in he banged the wicket behind 
him and passed through into the pen where the 
Pekingese, clamoring for their food, came yelping 
to meet him. 

Instinctively he scanned the fluffy-coated group. 
Lola was not there. 

The discovery, however, caused him no concern 
for often Mrs. Crowninshield carried the prize¬ 
winner up to the big house or took her for a ride 
in the car. Therefore, although her bright eyes 
were missing he did not worry, but fed the other 
dogs and gave them fresh water. 

The task completed, he sauntered toward the 
garage. 

How still it was everywhere. With the excep¬ 
tion of Dick’s racer every car was gone and all the 
chauffeurs with them. Even Jerry was nowhere 
about; and the gardeners were far down on the 
south slope where he could just detect the clip of 
their shears as they trimmed the privet hedge. 

The grounds were as deserted as if the earth had 
swallowed up every inhabitant. Surfside, deprived 


HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE 89 

of its accustomed hum and bustle, was actually 
lonely. With uncertain step the boy loitered in the 
sun, glancing at the expanse of sea and at a knock¬ 
about that heeled dangerously in the rising wind. 
Thinking he might find Jerry and thus banish soli¬ 
tude he meandered up the avenue toward the house. 

Jerry, however, was nowhere to be seen but the 
silence was broken by the siren horns of approach¬ 
ing motors and the Crowninshield cars came roll¬ 
ing in through the broad entrance. 

Since he chanced to be on the spot he may as 
well go up to the veranda, meet the family, and 
bring Lola back with him to be fed and tucked up 
for the night. 

Accordingly he hurried along and was at the 
steps almost as soon as the automobiles came to a 
stop. 

Together with a company of laughing guests, 
Nancy and Mr. and Mrs. Crowninshield alighted. 

“Such a beautiful ride as we’ve had, Dick!” 
called Mrs. Crowninshield to her son. “ We’ve 
been over to Harwich and picked up the Daven¬ 
ports, you see, and brought them home for the eve¬ 
ning. I think, Mrs. Davenport, you remember my 
son, Richard. Nancy, take Janet and Marie in 
with you so they can leave their wraps. You young 
people will have just about time for a set of tennis 
before dinner.” 

The cars had shot away and she was about to go 
indoors when the mistress of the house espied 
Walter. 


9 o WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ Did you wish to see me? ” she called. 

“ I thought I’d take Lola down to the kennels.” 

“ Lola! Is she here? ” 

“ I thought you had her.” 

“ No, indeed.” 

“ But she must be here at the house.” 

“ No, she isn’t. I never leave her with the maids. 
She is at the kennels.” 

“ I’ve just come from there.” 

“ And she wasn’t there? ” 

“ No, ma’am.” 

“ Are you sure? ” 

“ Positive! ” 

“ But my dear boy, didn’t you leave her there? ” 

“Yes. But I thought you took her when you 
went to drive. You have a key.” 

“ I didn’t.” 

“ And you did not give the key to any of the 
maids? ” 

“ Of course not.” 

“ Well, she isn’t there,” announced Walter, a 
tremor of trepidation passing over him. 

“Nonsense! She must be. Where else could 
she be? ” 

“ I don’t know.” 

“ Oh, you haven’t half looked,” smiled Mrs. 
Crowninshield reassuringly. “ Lola is such a tiny 
dog she often gets hidden away out of sight. I’ll 
come and find her for you.” 

Excusing herself to her guests she followed Wal¬ 
ter across the grass and in silence they unfastened 


HIS HIGHNESS IN A NEW ROLE 91 

the wire gate that led into the enclosure where the 
Pekingese were kept. But search as they would 
they failed to discover the missing dog. Lola was 
gone! Gone! 


CHAPTER VII 


THE PURSUIT OF LOLA 

Yes, Lola was gone; there could be no question 
about that. 

Had not Walter scented trouble he would soon 
have been made aware of it by the excitement that 
prevailed in the Peeks’ kennels. Every dog of the 
lot was barking furiously and with gleaming eyes 
and tail erect striving to communicate tidings of 
importance. Yet bark as they might, the message 
they sought to voice remained, alas, untold. 

“ If they could only speak we should soon know 
what has happened,” bewailed the lad to Mrs. 
Crowninshield, as for the hundredth time they 
searched every nook and corner for a clue to the 
mystery. 

“ Yes, they know — poor little things,” their mis¬ 
tress agreed. “ They are trying their best to tell 
the story, too. I’d give worlds to know what it is.” 

“ And I.” 

“ You are certain you locked everything up when 
you took the other dogs out.” 

“ Positive. Dick was with me and we both tried 
the gate before we started.” 

“ Nothing seems to be disturbed.” 

“ No. That is the strange part of it.” 


THE PURSUIT OF LOLA 


93 

Mrs. Crowninshield stopped, hot and breathless 
from her search. 

“ I cannot believe but that the mite will turn up. 
Have you asked Jerry or Tim?” 

“ They were nowhere about when I got back,” 
Walter replied. “The whole place was still as 
the grave. I was just going to hunt up Jerry when 
I saw the cars coming up the avenue.” 

“ Well, I must not delay any longer now,” an¬ 
nounced Mrs. Crowninshield “ The Davenports 
will be wondering what has become of me and so 
will everybody else. Just find Jerry and Tim and 
quietly make sure they have not taken the dog. In 
the meantime I will inquire of the maids at the 
house. We will not, however, make too much talk 
about it, and send out an alarm until we are certain 
there is a real tragedy. If I can keep Mr. Crown¬ 
inshield in ignorance of the matter until our guests 
have gone I shall be glad. He will be dreadfully 
upset for he took great pride in his possession of 
Lola and has declined numberless offers to sell 
her.” 

“ I know it,” groaned Walter. “ If it were only 
tone of the other dogs that was missing! ” 

“ The fact that it isn’t is what alarms me,” re¬ 
turned the woman. “ Lola is a quiet little thing 
and has been petted so much that it would not be 
like her to run away. Some of the other dogs might 
but she wouldn’t. She is far too timid.” 

“ How could she run away, even if she had a 
mind to, with the gate locked? ” 


94 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ I know. That is another ominous fact.” Mrs. 
Crowninshield shook her head. “ I’m afraid-” 

“ What? ” 

“ That she has been stolen.” 

“ Stolen! ” gasped Walter. “ But how could she 
with — with everybody around? ” 

“ But you yourself just said that nobody was 
around.” 

“ Jove! That’s true. Still somebody must have 
been here some time during the afternoon. It is 
not likely Jerry, Tim, and all the rest were out of 
hearing all the time I was gone.” 

“ That is what we must find out.” 

“ I’ll go and hunt up Jerry now.” 

“ Do. But work quietly; do not make a fuss. It 
will be time enough to get everybody up in arms 
when we have to. I dread to think what Mr. 
Crowninshield will say. He will be furious, sim¬ 
ply furious.” 

With this dubious prediction his wife walked 
away. 

She herself was upset. It was easy enough to 
see that. She strove, however, to be calm, clinging 
desperately to the hope that the dog might be dis¬ 
covered in the care of some of the men or maids. 
She idolized Lola and although she did not admit 
it, His Highness knew only too well that if it really 
proved that her pet was gone she, too, would be 
furious. 

“ A nice mess! ” commented the lad to himself as 
he hurried across the lawn in seach of Jerry. “ A 
nice hole I am in the very first thing! Between 


THE PURSUIT OF LOLA 


95 

them they will tear me to pieces. And Ma — Ma 
will say,' I told you so ! 9 That’s all the sympathy 
I’ll get from her. She’ll have to know, of course, 
for Mr. Crowninshield will fire me bag and bag¬ 
gage. I must expect that. Jerry as good as told 
me so when I came. I sha’n’t have a chance to de¬ 
fend myself. They will just believe I left the gate 
of the kennels unlocked when I went out and that 
Lola made off as fast as her four small feet could 
carry her. They will either think that, or they will 
think — ” he stopped aghast at the possibility that 
had taken possession of his mind. “They couldn’t 
think I left it open on purpose for some one to get 
in and take Lola! They couldn’t think that! But 
suppose Mr. Crowninshield did decide I was an 
accomplice what proof have I but my word that I 
wasn’t. It does look bad — my being gone and tak¬ 
ing Achilles and the other dogs with me. Still, 
I’ve done it every day since I’ve been here. And 
anyway, they would know I could not entice Jerry 
and Tim away even if I had wanted to.” 

The boy took courage. 

“ No, of course they couldn’t think I had any¬ 
thing to do with Lola being gone,” he murmured. 

By this time he had overtaken Tim and and his 
fellow workers who were still busy clipping the 
hedge. 

“Tim!” he called. 

There was no answer but the crisp snip, snip of 
the shears. 

“Tim!” 

“ Did you call?” 


96 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ Yes. You haven’t seen Lola, have you? ” 

“Lola? Indeed I haven’t. What would she 
be doing round here, I’d like to know? ” 

H is Highness struggled to smile. 

“ Oh, I just thoughttyou might have seen her.” 

“ She’s not at the kennels? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Oh, then the mistress took her up to the house. 
She often does. She is clean daffy over that dog. 
Give yourself no concern, sonny; the pup is with 
the master and missis, being shown off to company, 
most likely.” 

“ Probably she is. So you and the men have beei} 
here all the afternoon? ” 

“ That we have. A hot job, the cutting of this 
hedge.” 

“ It looks fine,” declared Walter, turning away. 

“ It ought to,” Tim growled. “ Goodness knows 
it’s trouble enough! A privet hedge is the devil to 
keep even.” 

Walter, however, did not wait to hear the vir¬ 
tues and vices of privet hedges discussed. He was 
in too much of a hurry. Furthermore, he had se¬ 
cured the information which he had come to seek. 
Tim and his host knew nothing of the whereabouts 
of Lola. Nothing else mattered. In fact, bewil¬ 
dered, anxious, and excited, it seemed at the mo¬ 
ment as if nothing else would ever matter again. 
He must find that dog — he mustt 

Nevertheless he remembered he must not appear 
agitated and therefore, instead of racing across 
the lawn and shouting for Jerry as would have been 


THE PURSUIT OF LOLA 


97 

his inclination, he walked decorously along the 
path until he came to the boathouse from which 
door Jerry was at that instant issuing. 

“You haven’t seen Lola, have you, Jerry?” he 
asked as indifferently as he could. 

“Lola? No. Why?” 

“ It— it is just her dinner time,” stammered the 
lad, “ and I wanted to find her.” 

“ She’ll be up at the house, most likely, if she 
isn’t at the kennels,” announced Jerry. “There’s 
visitors and Lola will be on deck to see ’em. She’s 
a vain little lady and likes to be shown off.” 

Walter greeted the remark with a sickly grin. 

“ What have you been doing? ” inquired he idly. 

“ Me? Why, I was just starting to fix that hasp 
on the gate to the chicken coop when Minnie came 
running down from the house to say somebody 
wanted to speak to me on the telephone. It was a 
long-distance call and kept me there most half an 
hour; and what it was all about I don’t know now. 
Some feller I never heard of kept talking and talk¬ 
ing, and I couldn’t make head nor tail out of any¬ 
thing he said. Finally I told him so and hung up 
the receiver. I can’t imagine who he was. No¬ 
body ever telephones me.” 

“ So you didn’t get the hasp fixed on the hen 
yard.” 

“ I would have hadn’t the cook held me up just 
as I was leaving and wanted I should put a new 
washer on the kitchen faucet. I saw it needed it the 
worst way. In fact, I had planned to do it before 
the folks came and it had slipped my mind. So I 


98 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

tinkered with that and got nothing else done. I’m 
just after mending a hinge on the boathouse door. 
A profitless afternoon, I call it.” 

“ So you haven’t been back to your diggings since 
noon.” 

“ Not a once. Why? Did you want me? ” 

“ N—o. Oh, no.” 

“ That’s lucky. Apparently everybody else did,” 
concluded Jerry grimly. 

So went Walter’s quest! Nobody had seen Lola. 
Nobody knew anything about her. Question as he 
would, not the faintest trace of the missing dog 
could be obtained; and when the Davenports rolled 
down the drive the lad faced the awful moment 
when his secret must be divulged and the alarm 
sounded that Lola, the Crowninshields’ most val¬ 
ued possession, was missing. Rapidly he turned 
the prospect of the coming storm over in his mind. 

Since the dog had been left in his charge the only 
manly thing to do, he argued, was to go directly to 
Mr. Crowninshield and himself acquaint him with 
the direful tidings. It would be cowardly to shunt 
this wretched task off on somebody else. It was his 
duty and his alone. Nevertheless, as he stood for a 
moment summoning his courage, he would have 
given all he possessed to escape the interview that 
awaited him. 

He would be scolded, blamed, discharged — that 
he knew—and he must bear bravely censure for 
something which he could not feel was his fault. 
Yet notwithstanding the fact that his conscience 


THE PURSUIT OF LOLA 99 

exonerated him it made the coming scene no less 
dreadful to anticipate. 

If Bob were only at hand to offer him his advice 
and sympathy. Bob was such a bully comforter. 
He never jumped on a man when he was down. 
Besides, he had a level head and always knew ex¬ 
actly what to do in an emergency. The instant this 
awful talk with Mr. Crowninshield was over and 
he was actually “ fired ” he should call Bob on the 
telephone and tell him the whole story. He must 
tell somebody, and Bob would understand better 
than anyone else just how everything had hap¬ 
pened. 

In the meantime there was nothing to be gained 
by further delay. 

Pulling himself together, His Highness (a very 
meek bit of royalty now) dragged himself up the 
flower-bordered path toward Surfside. As he went 
it seemed as if every pansy flanking the walk stared 
out at him and whispered, “ Aha, young man! 
You’re in for it now! ” 

Alas, he did not need to be told that! He knew it 
only too well. He cleared his throat, wondering 
how he should begin his confession. 

“ Mr. Crowninshield, I have some very sad news 
to impart to you — etc.”; or “ Mr. Crowninshield, 
I regret to say a very terrible thing has happened.” 
Such an introduction was easily delivered. It was 
the next sentence that appalled him. He could not 
get it off his tongue. “Lola has disappeared! ” 
He could see now the great man’s face as it flushed 


100 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

with anger and surprise. What would he say — 
that was the question? 

Probably his reply would be something like this? 

“ Young fellow, when I hired you, you under¬ 
took to look out for my dogs and see that nothing 
happened to them. I agreed to pay you good wages 
to perform that service and you, on your part, 
promised to do it satisfactorily. How have you 
kept that promise? You knew Lola’s value and 
you should have looked out for her. It’s up to you. 
You must either produce that dog or you must pay 
for her. 

He had by this time reached the house and like 
a criminal who faces execution and mounts the 
scaffold steps he climbed the broad flight leading to 
the front door. Mr. Crowninshield was on the ve¬ 
randa, sitting quietly in a big wicker chair, looking 
out toward the sea. He was thinking so intently on 
some imagining of his own that he did not hear the 
lad’s footfall and Walter was obliged to address 
him twice before he answered. Then he started 
suddenly, as if annoyed at being disturbed. 

“ Well? ” interrogated he. 

The fine introduction that His Highness had 
planned to utter, together with everything else he 
had arranged to say, fled from his memory and he 
stood speechless before his employer. 

“ You wish to see me? ” Mr. Crowninshield re¬ 
peated in a less sharp tone. 

“I—yes, sir.” 

Nevertheless, despite the heavy pause the words 
the boy sought would not come. Instead a plain- 


THE PURSUIT OF LOLA 


IOI 


tive jumble of phrases tumbled incoherently forth, 
astounding the lad himself almost as much as they 
did the person to whom they were addressed: 

“ Oh, sir, I’ve lost your dog, Lola! I didn’t 
mean to and I didn’t really lose her. She was gone 
when I got back from my walk with Achilles and 
the others. I left her locked in all right— I know 
I did. Where she is or how she got out I’ve no 
idea. I’m terribly sorry. I can’t possibly pay for 
her, and you’ll just have to put me in prison. It’s 
the only way, I guess. Don’t blame my mother or 
Bob, please, or Jerry either, because I’ve turned 
out to be such a duffer. It isn’t their fault. And 
perhaps I better go straight home. I suppose you 
won’t want me round here any more.” 

A great gasp strangled any further utterance and 
only the lad’s sobbing breath broke the stillness. 

Nerved to receive a scourge of maledictions or a 
blow the culprit waited. But nothing came — 
neither vindictives nor chastisement. He ventured 
to raise his head and confront his judge. 

Mr. Crowninshield was sitting looking far out 
to sea exactly as before and Walter actually began 
to wonder whether he had been turned to stone or 
had been stricken with deafness. 

“Mr. Crowninshield!” he at last ejaculated 
when the silence had become intolerable. 

“ Yes.” 

“ Did you hear what I said? ” 

“ Yes, sonny.” 

“ Well — well — what are you going to do with 
me?” 


102 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ Nothing, my boy.” 

" What? ” 

“ This job about Lola is nothing to do with you, 
my son. It has evidently been planned for a long 
time and carefully executed by professionals. Had 
you been on the spot they would have contrived to 
circumvent you just as they did Jerry. A gang 
have beaten us, that’s all. But I will show them I 
am not to be beaten so easily. I’ll have that dog 
back if it takes every dollar I have in the world. 
And I’ll land those chaps behind the bars, every 
one of them, or my name isn’t Crowninshield.” 

A tide of angry color surged over the face of 
the speaker and he rose abruptly, as if forgetting 
the lad’s presence. 

“ Yes, sir! ” he continued. “ I’ll round up those 
thieves. They needn’t put me down for such an 
ass. Of course it’s Daly and that New York bunch 
that set them on. They have always wanted Lola 
and been mad as hatters that I refused to sell her. 
Only the last time I saw Jake Daly he said, * What 
I can’t get by fair means I sometimes get by foul, 
Crowninshield, so you’d better look out for your 
precious dog.’ I did not heed the threat at the 
time, attributing it to temper. But evidently he 
meant just what he said. He intended to have the 
dog, whether or no. But by thunder,” Mr. Crown¬ 
inshield brought down his fist on the piazza rail, 
“ he won’t win out in the deal! I’ll jail him and 
all his tribe — see if I don’t! ” 

Walter, watching, hardly knew whether to go or 
stay. The man’s rage was terrible and he thanked 


THE PURSUIT OF LOLA 103 

his lucky stars that it was not directed toward him¬ 
self. 

“ Is — is — there anything I can do, Mr. Crown- 
inshield? ” he at last managed to stammer after the 
master had ceased his pacing of the veranda and 
at length became conscious of his presence. 

“Not a thing, little chap,” returned his em¬ 
ployer, flashing him one of his rare smiles. “ You 
have been mighty white about this, though. I 
guess it took some nerve to come up here and tell 
me this, didn’t it? ” 

“ Yes, sir, it did.” 

“ I wondered what you’d do.” 

“ Wondered?” 

“ Yes. Mrs. Crowninshield told me about Lola 
the minute the Davenports went. I saw the affair 
had nothing to do with you. Nevertheless, I wasn’t 
sorry to try you out and see how much of the man 
was in you. You’re all right, boy. Cheer up! No¬ 
body is going to pack you home to your mother, so 
don’t worry. And far from blaming you, if I want 
help about finding Lola, I’ll add you to my detec¬ 
tive force. You may be useful, who knows? ” 

The words, designed merely to be comforting, 
were idly, kindly spoken, and carried little real 
weight. Had the master of the house really sus¬ 
pected how true they were to prove he would have 
been astonished. 


CHAPTER VIII 


A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT 

As if a weight had been removed from his soul 
Walter moved away. The whole world had sud¬ 
denly become a different place. Although the ca¬ 
lamity of Lola’s disappearance was none the less 
distressing at least on his own particular horizon 
there no longer loomed the spectre of discharge 
and all the disgrace that accompanied it. He 
could have tossed his cap into the air for very joy 
and gratitude. In his relief he was bursting to 
talk to somebody, and as he had permission to use 
the telephone in order to keep in touch with his 
family it occurred to him that now was the mo¬ 
ment to call up Bob and impart the exciting tidings 
of the afternoon. Bob was always off duty at this 
hour and if he had the good luck to find him at the 
station just the sound of his voice would be infi¬ 
nitely comforting. 

Hastening in the side door he glanced into the 
wee telephone closet. 

No one was there, and he took down the receiver 
and called the Seaver Bay station. In another in¬ 
stant Bob’s Hello came cheerily over the wire. 

14 It’s Walter, Bob.” 

“ Anything the matter, kid? ” 


A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT 105 

“ N—o. Yes. That is, something was the mat¬ 
ter but it is all over now. I just wanted to talk 
to you.” 

“ Well, fire ahead. What do you want to say? ” 

“ Oh, a lot. I hardly know how to start.” The 
boy laughed nervously. 

“ You’re not sick? ” 

“ Oh, no.” 

“Well, we can’t hold this line forever, son, so 
break away and tell your tale as fast as you can.” 

“ I’ll try to, Bob.” 

Incoherently the lad poured out his story. Once 
launched it came readily from his tongue and he 
continued to the end of it without interruption from 
his distant listener. When, however, he had fin¬ 
ished, Bob’s crisp tones came singing over the wire: 

“ You went out to walk about three, you say? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ And returned? ” 

“ It must have been half-past four or five, I 
guess.” 

“ And there was nobody about the place all that 
time? ” 

“ The men were all busy somewhere else. 
Strangely enough even Jerry, who usually is on 
deck, had a telephone call and had to go up to the 
big house.” 

“ Oh, he did! ” 

“ Yes. It was funny, too, because it was some¬ 
body he didn’t know at all and he couldn’t find out 
what the fellow wanted.” 


106 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ What’s that?” The interrogation was sharp 
and tense. 

“ Jerry just said it was some man up in Brock¬ 
ton whom he didn’t know and as he couldn’t make 
head nor tail out of the message he hung up the re¬ 
ceiver. Nobody ever telephones to Jerry. It was 
queer they should do it to-day, wasn’t it? ” 

“ Very. Did you tell Mr. Crowninshield about 
it?” 

“ Oh, no, indeed. He was too busy about Lola 
to think of anything else.” 

“ Nevertheless, I would tell him.” 

“ What for? It wouldn’t interest him.” 

“ I think it might — a good deal. You tell him. 
Do you know whether he has done anything yet or 
not? ” 

“No, I don’t. I didn’t dare ask him what he 
was going to do.” 

“ I suppose not. Well, I’m glad you got out of 
this snarl so well, kid. It’s a pity they’ve lost the 
dog. You take mighty good care of the rest of the 
pups and don’t let any more of them disappear.” 

“I’ll try. And Bob-—” 

“ I can’t stop to talk any longer now, old chap. 
So long! If they get a line on the thief you might 
ring me up again. I shall be interested. Good-by.” 

“ Good-by, Bob. 

How fair Bob always was, reflected the boy, as 
he emerged into the open and made his way back 
to the kennels. Some brothers would probably 
have blurted out, “ That’s you all over! ” or “ Trust 
you to get into a mess! ” But Bob never enjoyed 


A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT 107 

seeing somebody else miserable. Instead he al¬ 
ways tried to make everybody’s troubles smaller 
than they really were. One could confess one’s 
sins to Bob, knowing that he would be merciful. 

So thought Walter as he sped down the gravel 
path to greet the clamoring pack of animals that 
hungrily awaited his coming. 

“ Well, old sports! ” called he as he turned the 
key in the lock, “ I guess you are ready for your 
supper. Wondering where your boss was, eh? I’m 
not very late. Only a quarter of an hour. It isn’t 
late enough to warrant your making such a fuss. 
Down, Achilles! What’s the matter with you? 
Anybody’d think you were crazy to see you jump¬ 
ing up and whining this way. What’s got you, old 
man? Down, I say! ” 

He pushed the dog from him and started to 
enter the room where the food was kept; but again 
Achilles was in his path. 

“ Get out of my way, you beggar! ” smiled Wal¬ 
ter, playfully attempting to shake the creature off. 
“ What is it? Are you clean starved? If you are 
you must stand out of the way so I can get you 
something to eat.” 

But the dog refused to move. 

Planting himself squarely in the lad’s pathway 
he began to bark furiously. 

Then he raced to the gate, sniffed, and struggled 
to get out. 

“ What on earth has struck you, you giant? ” in¬ 
quired Walter, regarding the great creature in be¬ 
wilderment. “ Don’t you want your dinner? ” 


io8 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


It was plain in an instant that no matter what the 
lure of a bone might ordinarily be to-day, it held 
no charms for the big police dog. He had one 
wish and only one, and that was to be released from 
the wire enclosure in which he was penned and left 
free to follow some plan of his own which evi¬ 
dently absorbed him. So insistent was his demand 
that it was not to be denied and Walter slipped the 
bolt and allowed him to race away. Then the boy 
turned his attention to feeding the other dogs. 

“ Achilles probably has a bone buried some¬ 
where, n he muttered to himself, “and is going to 
dig it up. Just why he prefers stale food to fresh 
I can’t see; but apparently he does.” 

Nevertheless His Highness had scarcely finished 
giving the dogs their dinner before Achilles was 
back again, and with no bone, either. On the con¬ 
trary he was hot, breathless, and panting from what 
had obviously been a long run through the woods. 
Pine needles clinging to his furry coat attested that 
he had been over in the grove that flanked the estate 
on the west. 

“ Couldn’t find your hidden treasure, eh, old 
boy? ” commented Walter. “ Gone, was it? Some 
other dog taken it? ” 

But Achilles failed to accept the jest with the 
cordiality such jokes commonly evoked. He 
neither wagged his tail nor stretched his jaws into 
a grin. Instead he began to yelp and bound back 
and forth upon the lawn. 

“ You act possessed. What on earth is the mat- 


A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT 109 

ter? ” asked the boy, coming toward the gate and 
starting to open it. 

No sooner was his hand on the latch, however, 
than the Belgian raced up with sharp barks of de¬ 
light. 

“ Want me to come out, do you? Got something 
to show me? ” 

Again Achilles barked joyfully. 

“Aren’t you the tyrant, though?” remarked 
Walter. “ I’ve just been to walk and am tired as 
the deuce. What do I wish to go tramping over 
the country again for? ” 

Nevertheless, despite his grudging protest, noth¬ 
ing else would satisfy the dog and at length, curious 
to see what caused the creature’s excitement, he 
slipped the lock and stepped outside on to the turf. 
Instantly an exultant bark came from Achilles and 
he dashed away, only to return and take the lead 
through the woods, his nose to the ground and his 
ears erect. The boy followed. It was a race to 
keep up with the rapidly running vanguard. Now 
the chase skirted the lawn, now dipped into the 
pine woods. On and on went the dog, and in pur¬ 
suit of him on and on went Walter. 

They floundered along the slippery matting of 
copper, stumbling this way and that, and presently 
emerged where the land dropped down to the 
shore. The lad paused. He had no mind to scram¬ 
ble through the tall salt grass or sink ankle deep 
in the stretch of sand that adjoined it. But Achilles 
compelled. It was now no longer a matter of 
choice. The beast approached and catching the 


IIO WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

corner of the lad’s sweater in his mouth tugged at 
it resolutely, even angrily. 

Walter dared not resist. He let himself down 
over the edge of the bank into the sharp-edged 
grass, and wading through it reached the sand. 
Here Achilles halted. The end of their pilgrim¬ 
age had, then, been reached. What was it all about? 
For a moment dog and man faced one another. 
Then, glancing about, His Highness gave a little 
cry. There were footprints in the sand,—deep 
footprints that the moisture had kept indelible. A 
train of them came and went toward a ribbon of 
automobile tracks that narrowed away up the beach 
and were finally lost in the confusion of a much 
traveled wood road. 

Walter’s heart leaped within him as the signifi¬ 
cance of the discovery rose before his imagination. 
This was the way Lola had gone. 

A thief, familiar with the country and knowing 
the isolation of this sequestered cove, had driven 
through the wood road, left the car behind the 
dunes, and skulking through the woods, had suc¬ 
cessfully carried out a daring robbery. Perhaps 
he had been lingering concealed about the gardens 
all day or even many days. Who could tell? At 
any rate, he had chosen a propitious moment, pro¬ 
vided himself with a skeleton key, and carried Lola 
away in the waiting motor car. Where they were 
now, who could tell? A car travels fast and a long 
distance could be covered in the two hours that had 
elapsed. Certainly no more time must be wasted. 

With Achilles leaping before him Walter raced 


A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT hi 

back to Surfside. Mr. Crowninshield, irritable 
and excited, was just coming out of the house. 

“ May I speak to you a moment, sir? ” panted 
the boy. 

“ Yes, if it is important. I’m in a rush so do not 
delay me.” 

“ But it’s about Lola.” 

“ Lola! Go ahead, then, if you have anything to 
say.” 

The lad told his story. 

“Ha! Well done, Achilles!” exclaimed the 
financier when the tale was told. “ Well done, old 
fellow! And well done you too, little shaver! Be¬ 
tween you you have given us a big boost toward 
catching the thief. Now just one thing, sonny. I 
meant to caution you before you left but forgot it. 
You are not to speak of this affair to any one — not 
to any one at all. Do you understand? A false 
move on our part might undo everything and ruin 
our cause. Nobody is going to be caught red-hand¬ 
ed with that dog in his possession. Rather than be 
trapped he would kill her. We mustn’t let that 
happen. We shall follow up our man quietly with¬ 
out letting him suspect that he is being watched. 
That is the only way we can hope to get the pup 
back again. So mind you hold your tongue. Not 
a word to anybody on your life. Not a syllable. 
Be dumb as the grave and let me see how capable 
you are of keeping your own counsel. The trouble 
with most people is they blab everything. They 
can’t wait to tell it. Let anything happen and they 
are off to confide it to some one before you can say 


112 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

Jack Robinson. Now don’t you do that — at least 
not this time. Hold your tongue. This isn’t your 
secret; it’s mine.” 

In terror Walter hung his head. Should he con¬ 
fess that he had already telephoned Bob or should 
he keep silent. 

Of course Bob wouldn’t tell. There wouldn’t 
be anybody to tell way off there at Seaver Bay. Be¬ 
sides, he himself could ring him up and caution 
him not to. Why need Mr. Crowninshield know 
anything about it? 

But suppose Bob had told already and harm was 
done? Certainly it would be more honest to speak. 

The boy took a big swallow. 

“ I’m afraid, sir, that I have already told some 
one,” he blurted out miserably. “ I didn’t know it 
would do any harm and so I called up my brother 
and-” 

“You young idiot!” burst out Mr. Crownin¬ 
shield indignantly. “ Why in thunder couldn’t 
you keep still? We’re in a nice mess now! If the 
story gets about and the police start to track down 
the thief it is good-by to Lola. Why did you have 
to run hot-footed to the telephone the first thing? 
Jove!” 

“ I’m very sorry, sir. I had no idea it would do 
any harm.” 

“ But you have an idea of it now, haven’t you? ” 
inquired the master grimly. 

“ Yes. I see what you mean.” 

Mr. Crowninshield heaved an exasperated sigh. 

“ The game’s up now, I guess,” he muttered. 


A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT 113 

“ But my brother lives of! by himself in a very 
lonely place,” the lad explained desperately. 
“ Just he and another fellow have a house out on a 
point of land a long way off from everywhere. 
They couldn’t tell anybody about Lola if they 
wanted to, especially if I call them right up and 
ask them not to.” 

“ Where is it? ” 

“ Seaver Bay.” 

“Never heard of it — or, stop a minute, isn’t 
there a wireless station there or something? ” 

“ Yes, sir. My brother-” 

“ Well, no matter about your brother now. You 
go into the house and call him up. When you get 
the line let me know and I will speak with him.” 

“Yes, sir.” Nevertheless the lad lingered. 
“ I’m — I’m awfully sorry,” repeated he. 

“ There, there, go along. You meant no harm. 
You just blundered. But blunders are expensive 
things sometimes and this one may prove so unless 
we can prevent it.” 

Still His Highness did not go. 

“ Well, what are you waiting for? ” asked his 
employer impatiently. 

“ My brother told me to tell you that Jerry had a 
telephone message this afternoon.” 

“ A telephone message? What has that got to do 
with it? ” burst out Mr. Crowninshield at the end 
of his patience. 

“ I don’t know. Bob just said to tell you.” 

“ Go ahead then.” 


11 4 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

Hurriedly the boy related the facts of the mys¬ 
terious communication. 

“So! Your brother has some brains if you 
haven’t,” said Mr. Crowninshield on hearing the 
story, and Walter saw him smile. “ That was neat 
of them, very! They took the precaution to get 
Jerry, who is unfailingly about, out of the way.” 

“They?” 

“ The thieves, youngster. It was a Brockton call, 
you say.” 

“ That was what Jerry told me.” 

“ Good! That gives us another clue.” 

It was evident the information had put the mas¬ 
ter in rare good humor. 

“Trot along, now, and call up this brother of 
yours. I shall be glad to talk with him, for he 
sounds as if he might be worth talking to. As for 
you, son, cheer up! No milk is spilled yet and per¬ 
haps it won’t be if you have as wise a big brother as 
it appears. I might never have known of Jerry’s 
message but for him. Jerry himself would not 
have placed enough importance on it to tell me, I 
am sure — or you, either, for that matter. So per¬ 
haps, after all, you did a good thing to enlist your 
brother in our behalf.” 

“I hope so, sir. I meant no harm; really I 
didn’t.” 

“ There, there, don’t think of it again,” said Mr. 
Crowninshield kindly. “ I should have remem¬ 
bered you are not a man’s age and cannot be ex¬ 
pected to have the judgment that goes with fifty or 


A BLUNDER AND WHAT CAME OF IT 115 

sixty years of living. Even old codgers like my¬ 
self blunder sometimes.” 

His eyes twinkled and in the radiance of his 
smile Walter saw the last cloud of wrath roll from 
his brow. Truly, as Jerry had affirmed, Mr. 
Crowninshield’s rages were like thunderstorms — 
awesome while they lasted but unfailingly followed 
by sunshine. 


CHAPTER IX 


MORE CLUES 

Notwithstanding Mr. Crowninshield’s comfort¬ 
ing words, however, Walter could not shake off the 
consciousness that take it all in all he had blun¬ 
dered desperately throughout the entire train of 
events connected with Lola and his vanity was sadly 
hurt. If any good had come out of what he had 
done it was more by chance than as a result of wise 
calculation. He had meant well, that was all that 
could be said, and the patronage these words im¬ 
plied was by no means flattering to one anxious to 
make himself valuable to his employer. 

What a boob he was; what a blunderer! The 
name Mr. Crowninshield had so wrathfully be¬ 
stowed on him was unquestionably deserved. It 
fitted him like a glove. The fact that the great man 
had afterward sought to palliate the sting of the 
term did not actually help matters any. What he 
had thought in the beginning and so spontaneously 
declared was what he really believed, and as his 
dispirited retainer observed to himself, who could 
blame him? 

He couldn’t have made a worse start at a job 
had he tried. In his depression he almost wished 


MORE CLUES 


117 

he had never seen Surfside, the Crowninshields, 
or anything belonging to them. 

Nor was his melancholy lightened when he 
found on entering the house that the telephone line 
was busy and that some one was calling Mr. 
Crowninshield. Goodness only knew how long it 
might be now before the wire would be free for 
the master to reach and warn Bob to keep secret 
the tidings his brother had tattled to him. Wasn’t 
it infernal luck to encounter this delay? If he 
had only held his tongue in the first place! Well, it 
had taught him a lesson. The next time he got 
mixed up in somebody else’s affairs he would keep 
them to himself. 

Meandering aimlessly outdoors he sat down on 
the steps to wait until the owner of the house 
should finish his conversation. 

For a time he remained quite quiet; but when 
the minutes lengthened into a quarter of an hour he 
began to fidget. Would the talkers never stop? 
Why, their chattering seemed to be endless? Even 
through the door he could hear Mr. Crownin- 
shield’s curt tones and the eager rise and fall of his 
voice. Once he laughed as if pleased, and twice 
Walter heard a cry of “Good!” When he did 
appear on the piazza his face was wreathed in 
smiles. 

“That brother of yours is a Jim Dandy!” he 
exclaimed, rubbing his hands. “ You did a mighty 
clever thing, young one, to get him on the job. We 
never can thank you enough.” 

“Me?” 


118 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


“ Certainly you! Why didn’t you tell me more 
about this family paragon of yours? I didn’t take 
in he was a radio operator.” 

“I — I — I don’t know,” replied Walter, be¬ 
wildered. 

“ Well, his quick action has helped us no end — 
that is all I can say,” announced the owner of Surf- 
side triumphantly. “ The instant he got your mes¬ 
sage he went to work with his wireless outfit. He 
flashed messages to all the stations in the outlying 
cities or else telephoned, and inside of half an hour 
every road to Boston and to New York was 
watched. You see a man with a little dog had 
stopped at his station for water. The wood road 
skirting our shore goes right by Seaver Bay and 
probably the thief reasoned that no one would be 
on the lookout for him on such an out-of-the-way 
thoroughfare. At any rate he had to have water 
for his engine and he took a chance. He told your 
brother he was touring the Cape, and had you not 
called Bob up he would have thought no more 
of the happening. But when you told him about 
Lola immediately he pricked up his ears. The dog 
tallied perfectly with what you had previously told 
him and the fact that it was a Pekingese made him 
suspicious. Leaping at the possibility that his 
visitor was in reality the man wanted, he sent out 
a broadcast describing the culprit. 

“ With an accurate description of the man, car, 
and dog we cannot fail to get tidings soon. Ancf 
at any rate we have something definite to work on. 
We know what the thief looks like, what he had on, 


MORE CLUES 


119 

the make of his car and all about him. Unques¬ 
tionably he will be stopped either between here and 
Boston or between here and New York,—for he is 
probably aiming for one of those cities. I myself 
rather think he will go straight through to Boston. 
He would not venture to try New York until later 
because he would be well aware that the authorities 
there would be waiting for him. He isn’t going to 
be trapped. So he will try to do the thing he fig¬ 
ures I will not calculate upon.” Mr. Crownin- 
shield rubbed his hands and laughed. “ Little does 
he know we have him down cold already! And it 
has all been so quietly and promptly done. That 
is the beauty of it. You must have got home from 
your walk very soon after the wretch had left. 
Therefore the loss was discovered sooner than he 
had planned. Doubtless he was delayed by Jerry’s 
being about and had to wait until his accomplice 
up in Brockton called him off. I presume they 
had agreed upon some hour when they would sum¬ 
mon the unsuspecting caretaker to the telephone.” 
As the scheme of the robbery began to unfold, 
Walter mirrored his employer’s smile. 

“ And if the other chap is in Brockton doesn’t 
that indicate that this fellow who was here will 
most likely expect to pass through there and pick 
him up?” he ventured, feeling very much of a 
personage to be thus taken into Mr. Crownin- 
shield’s confidence. 

“ Exactly!” 

His Highness glowed with satisfaction. Some 
of his self-esteem was returning. 


120 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ Fortunately your brother had the good sense 
to warn his allies to act carefully and not alarm 
the thief, so that the life of the dog might not be 
jeopardized. He seems to have thought of every¬ 
thing, this brother Bob of yours. If we get Lola 
back it will be largely his doing — and yours. I 
sha’n’t forget the fact, either.” 

Walter flushed under the great man’s praise. 

“ It was just a happen,” murmured he. “ I 
thought I had blundered.” 

He saw Mr. Crowninshield color at having his 
own word hurled back at him. 

“ Some of the most fortunate strokes in our lives 
are achieved by chance,” replied he, laughing. 
“ See how capable I am of shifting my philoso¬ 
phy,” he added with good humor. “ Neverthe¬ 
less, although this indiscretion of yours has turned 
out well I still maintain that, generally speaking, 
a silent tongue is a great asset. In nine cases out 
of ten keeping still does far less harm than talking. 
Jerry is a shining example of my creed. In all the 
years he has been here he has never let his tongue 
outrun his solid judgment. And yet,” concluded 
he with a twinkle, “ had we trusted to Jerry, we 
should never have heard of his Brockton tele¬ 
phone communication. So there you are! Which 
is the better way? It seems to be a toss up in this 
case.” 

“ I guess the better way is never to make a mis¬ 
take,” smiled Walter. 

“ Do you know the infallible person who can 


MORE CLUES 121 

boast such a record? ” came whimsically from Mr. 
Crowninshield. 

“ N—o, sir.” 

“ Nor I.” 

A pause fell between them and Walter rose to go. 

“ Do you suppose you will hear anything more 
to-night? ” questioned he shyly. 

“ There is no telling. We may have news at any 
moment; or again we may hear nothing until into 
the night or till morning.” 

“ I’m crazy to get tidings, aren’t you? ” In his 
earnestness the lad had forgotten that they were 
not of an age or quite of the same station. 

The master smiled indulgently. 

“ I’m every bit as crazy to hear as you are,” said 
he, quite as if Lola were their joint possession. 

“ Do you think you’ll get any message before I go 
to bed?” 

Once more Mr. Crowninshield regarded him 
with friendly comradeship. 

“ That depends on what time you turn in.” 

“ At home Ma makes me go at nine o’clock. I’ve 
done it pretty much, too, since I’ve been here. She 
wanted I should.” 

“ You are a sensible fellow. Nine o’clock is late 
enough for anybody to sit up, although I will ad¬ 
mit,” the man chuckled mischievously, “that in 
New York we occasionally sit up later than that.” 

But Walter ignored the jest. 

“ Do you think you will hear by nine? ” persisted 
he. 

“ There is no way of knowing, sonny,” was the 


122 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

kind answer. “ The best thing for you to do, how¬ 
ever, is to go to bed as you usually do. You are 
tired out with excitement. I can see that.” 

“No I’m not,” contradicted the boy, his eyes 
very wide open. 

“ But you are — a deal more fagged than you 
realize. I am myself. Now I’ll tell you what 
we’ll do. I’ll go to bed and you go to bed; and if 
any message comes I’ll tell them to waken me and 
then I’ll waken you. I can call you on the wire 
that goes from the house down to your quarters. 
How will that do?” 

“ But suppose I shouldn’t hear it? ” objected the 
lad. 

“ Somebody will. The chauffeurs do not go to 
sleep as early as you do, I rather fancy. I will give 
orders for one of them to tell you if a call comes.” 

“ I’d much prefer to sit up, sir. Why couldn’t I 
just sit here on the piazza? It wouldn’t disturb 
anybody and I should be on the spot.” 

“You might sit here all night and catch your 
death of cold, and no tidings come until morning, 
sonny. No, my plan is much the better one. You 
trot along to bed. I’ll fulfill my part of the con¬ 
tract and go also. And if there is anything to tell 
before morning you shall hear it.” 

Reluctantly the lad moved away. 

He was not in the least sleepy. Nevertheless be¬ 
cause he had given his word he dragged himself 
across the lawn, mounted the stairs to his room, and 
began to undress. His spirits were very high. 
Within an hour or two—three hours at the very 


MORE CLUES 


123 

most—the telephone would ring and Mr. Crownin- 
shield would announce to him the glad tidings that 
the thief had been caught. Then some one would 
motor to Barnstable, Brockton, or wherever it was, 
recapture Lola, and bring her back, and the events 
of the past few hours would be only a nightmare. 
And it would be Bob — he and Bob — who 
brought about this glorious climax to a day of ca¬ 
tastrophes. And if such a result was accomplished 
had not the owner of Surfside promised that he 
would never forget the service? 

For his own part Walter wanted nothing. If 
Lola could only be found his happiness would be 
complete. But if only Mr. Crowninshield would 
do something wonderful for Bob! Perhaps he 
might give him a big sum of money; he could well 
afford to. Or maybe he would put him in the way 
of earning it. There was no telling what Aladdin- 
like feats he might perform. Such a man was all 
powerful. Why, he could send Bob to Europe if 
he chose! Or pay the mortgage on the house. He 
could make Bob’s fortune. 

The younger boy thrilled at the thought. 

With these optimistic and intriguing fancies in 
mind he slipped into bed and soon dozed off into 
dreams wilder and even more extravagant. He 
slept soundly and awoke with a bewildered cry 
when a knock came at the door. 

“ It’s I — Wheeler, shaver! The boss wants you 
on the telephone.” 

Up scrambled Walter, his stupor banished by the 
agitation of the moment. 


124 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

He did not wait to don his clothes but in his pa¬ 
jamas took the stairs two at a time and soon had 
his ear to the receiver. 

“ Walter? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ Well, we have some news, such as it is.” Mr. 
Crowninshield’s voice sounded dubious and dis¬ 
couraged. “ They tracked the car we were after 
to Buzzard’s Bay and found it there empty; its 
occupants had disappeared.” 

“ Disappeared! ” repeated the astounded boy. 

“ Yes, they’re gone! Vanished in thin air! Not 
a trace of them is to be found. The abandoned 
automobile with its number removed, was discov¬ 
ered on a side road.” 

“ The man must be hiding somewhere in the vi¬ 
cinity then.” 

“ That does not follow, son; I wish it did.” 

“ What else could he do? ” 

“ His accomplice from Brockton could meet him 
with another car, for one thing.” 

“ A different car, and throw us off the scent! ” 

“ Precisely.” 

For a second neither of them spoke. Walter was 
too nonplussed and his employer too disheartened. 

“ Isn’t that the limit! ” the lad presently gathered 
indignation enough to ejaculate. 

“ I expected something of the sort,” was the re¬ 
ply. “We are up against professionals, you see, 
and not amateurs. This gang is being paid big 
money and does not intend either to fail in what it 
has undertaken or be trapped. We had it too easy 


MORE CLUES 


125 

at the beginning and were too much elated by our 
initial success.” 

“ What are you going to do now? ” 

“ I’ve wired New York for detectives. I ought 
to have followed my first impulse and done it im¬ 
mediately, and I should have had we not seemed on 
the high road to success without help. The plain¬ 
clothes men will probably be miffed at being called 
in now that we have meddled with the case and 
messed it all up.” 

“ But I don’t see how we have done any harm,” 
retorted His Highness, feeling it a little ungrate¬ 
ful of Mr. Crowninshield to veer so quickly from 
commendation to censure. 

“ Oh, untrained people never can compete with 
skilled ones in any line,” was the sharp answer. “ I 
ought to have remembered it. Doubtless in our 
zeal we betrayed ourselves somehow and our man 
became suspicious and adopted other tactics in con¬ 
sequence.” 

“ I don’t believe so,” Walter maintained stoutly. 
“I’ll bet this is just what he had arranged to do 
anyway.” 

“ Well, perhaps it was. We cannot tell about 
that,” yawned the man at the other end of the wire. 
“ The result, however, is the same. Instead of net¬ 
ting our catch we have allowed it to slip through 
our fingers.” 

There was an edge of exasperation in the tone. 

“ Maybe we’ll have better luck than you think,” 
ventured the lad, not knowing what else to say, and 
unwilling to betray his chagrin. 


126 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


“ We’ll have neither good luck nor bad in fu¬ 
ture,” responded the master curtly. “ After this we 
keep our hands off and the detectives manage 
the affair. There have been blunders enough.” 

With this ungracious comment the great man 
hung up the receiver and stumbling through the 
darkness His Highness felt his way upstairs and 
dropped into bed. 

Like a house of cards his roseate dreams for the 
future had suddenly collapsed. There would be 
now no wonderful career for Bob, no bag of gold, 
no fairy fortune! Instead of being a hero he had 
again become a mere duffer, a blunderer, had 
played the fool. 

Since failure had come in place of the coveted 
success Mr. Crowninshield would most likely 
blame it all to him. 

Fleeting, indeed, was the favor and gratitude of 
princes! 


CHAPTER X 


BOB 

By late afternoon of the following day the New 
York detectives arrived and Wheeler drove their 
dusty and travel-stained car around to the garage. 

“ Must have speeded up some! ” commented he, 
on viewing the throbbing machine. “ Left New 
York at midnight,” they said. “ Some friends of 
the master’s likely, come to play golf.” 

Ever given to frankness it was on the tip of 
Walter’s tongue to declare the real identity of the 
strangers, but fortunately he bethought him in 
time to halt the words. 

“ What did they look like?” inquired he, eager 
to know and yet anxious not to appear inquisi¬ 
tive. 

“Look like? Like any other dusty, muddy 
guys,” grumbled Wheeler, .eyeing with disdain the 
grimy automobile which he knew he would be ex¬ 
pected to clean. 

“ Old or young?” persisted His Highness. 

“ Old enough to know better than to heat up an 
engine this way, but young enough to do it,” 
snapped Wheeler. “ Shouldn’t think their car had 
seen water in years, it’s that filthy. A rum job 
for me! ” 


128 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


Walter, however, did not reply. He was not in 
the least interested in the mud-caked car. It was 
its occupants that aroused his curiosity. In all his 
life he had never seen a genuine detective and he 
was all impatience for a peep at persons allied with 
such an intriguing profession. While his reason 
told him they must, of course, look precisely like 
other men, nevertheless the hope would persist that 
perhaps, after all, they didn’t. And even if they 
did appear like ordinary mortals were there not 
their myriad disguises? He hoped with all his 
heart they would wear some of these, that the 
exigencies of the case would compel it. 

Very great, then, was his surprise and disap¬ 
pointment when on being summoned to the big 
house soon after the arrival of these interesting 
creatures he was presented to two commonplace be¬ 
ings who, although charming gentlemen, were not 
in the least different from anybody else. Mr. 
Dacie, the younger of the men, was a pleasant, 
blond-haired fellow who instantly ingratiated 
himself in the boy’s affections by asking him if 
he collected stamps and bestowing on him two rare 
ones from China. In fact he seemed to like every¬ 
thing a boy liked and appeared to be almost a boy 
himself. 

Mr. Lyman was older but he, too, when he was 
not being stern and business-like, was very jolly. 
No one could possibly be afraid of either one of 
them and then and there His Highness’s faith in 
the ultimate success of Mr. Crowninshield’s cause 
dwindled and died. They weren’t disguised at all; 


BOB 


129 

and if they had pistols they must have had them 
well concealed for the only suspicious articles pro¬ 
duced from their pockets were notebooks and pen¬ 
cils. He had expected to be quite awed by their 
presence but on the contrary he found, when he 
started out to show them the kennels and the place 
where he had seen the automobile tracks, that he 
was chattering away to both of them quite as if 
he had known them all his life. 

Mr. Dacie was particularly friendly, and as 
they walked along he talked much of sports, dogs, 
and fishing. Furthermore he was intensely inter¬ 
ested in Bob and listened attentively to all that was 
told him about this remarkable big brother. He 
had a bully brother himself, he said. In short, be¬ 
fore a half hour had passed His Highness had not 
only decided to become a detective but to become 
one exactly like Mr. Dacie. 

And yet as he thought it over afterward the hero 
of his sudden adoration had not uttered one syllable 
about jails, criminals, robberies, or crimes of any 
sort. In fact he had talked really very little. 
What he had done had been to smile, nod, and let 
the other fellow babble. It had, to be sure, been a 
delightful experience to find yourself a lion, and 
everything you did of interest to your listener; but 
you did not learn much about the business of being 
a detective, reflected Walter, a bit mortified by his 
discovery. Well, the next time he was with Mr. 
Dacie he would ask him some questions and let 
him relate everything about his mysterious calling. 

Strange to say, however, the moment for such 


i 3 o WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

disclosures never appeared to come right. There 
was always so much else to talk of. Mr. Dacie 
wanted most terribly to catch some flounders and 
wondered if there were any to be found; and of 
course as Walter knew of three secret places where 
flounders were sure to lurk he eagerly told his new 
friend about them. And then he had to talk swim¬ 
ming and school — and how he hated it! Why, 
there were endless things to tell Mr. Dacie. The 
visit of the two men was, moreover, surprisingly 
short. They remained at Surfside only one night 
and the next morning, together with Mr. Crownin- 
shield, who led the way in his car, they disappeared 
leaving His Highness none the wiser and regret¬ 
fully mourning his lost opportunity to be initiated 
into the gruesome mysteries of a detective’s ca¬ 
reer. 

The realization that in exchange for telling 
everything he knew or ever had thought Mr. Dacie 
had told him nothing suddenly caused the lad to 
speculate as to whether after all both Mr. Dacie 
and his associate, Mr. Lyman, were not cleverer 
than they looked to be. 

It seemed incredible to recall, now that they 
were gone, that he had not once asked them what 
they thought about Lola and whether they had any 
idea where the man who had taken her had gone. 
How much better it would have been had he made 
that inquiry instead of chattering about his own af¬ 
fairs. But somehow when there had been a lull 
in the conversation they had always been busy 
measuring footprints or automobile ruts, and writ- 


BOB 


131 

ing down these unending dimensions. Moreover, 
something which he was unable to explain always 
halted the questions. 

Well, it was useless to regret his vanished op¬ 
portunities. The detectives were now far beyond 
his reach and probably he would never see them 
again. He might as well go about his work and 
put them,, together with Lola and her baffling dis¬ 
appearance, out of his mind. This he tried valiant¬ 
ly to do, but in spite of his utmost endeavor his 
thought constantly reverted to the missing dog, and 
when toward dusk Mr. Crowninshield’s car came 
whirling up the avenue His Highness had all he 
could do not to rush out and demand of the master 
whether he had secured any further information. 

To remember that he must keep constantly in the 
background was, in fact, one of the most difficult 
aspects of Walter’s job. As a democratic young 
American who had always mingled in the best so¬ 
ciety Lovell’s Harbor had to offer he had been free 
to give a hail to anybody he desired to greet. But 
at Surfside everything was different. He must 
stifle his natural impulses and curb his tongue, a 
role very hard for one who had had no previous ex¬ 
perience with class distinctions* Difficult as it had 
been he had made up his mind to being excluded 
from the gayety that went on about him. It was, 
to be sure, no fun to view automobile loads of 
young people roll out of the drive bent on a day 
of pleasure; to look on while motor boats pulled 
up anchor and puffed across the blue of the bay. 
And how he would have adored to try his hand at 


i 3 2 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

a set of tennis on that fine dirt court! Ah, there 
were moments when to a normal, healthy boy the 
world appeared a very unfair place; and the lot 
of one who worked for a living a wretched one. 

And then, when his spirits had reached their 
lowest ebb, he would resolutely take himself to 
task. Was there not his pay envelope to compen¬ 
sate him? He was not at Surf side to have a good 
time; he was there to earn his daily bread and very 
fortunate was he to have so good a place. Having 
read himself this lecture he was wont to turn to 
his duties with lighter heart, closing his ears to the 
laughter and his eyes to the merriment that made 
up the days of the idle. But what he never could 
get used to was the fact that he must not ask ques¬ 
tions or voice his opinions. In a free country 
where one man was as good as another the mandate 
seemed absurd. But it wasn’t done. That was all 
there was about it. Jerry said so and so did Tim. 

Instead of piping, “ Hi, Mr. Crowninshield, 
did you find out anything? ” one awaited the infor¬ 
mation until it was voluntarily imparted. 

In this particular case, as good fortune would 
have it, His Highness’s impatience had seethed and 
bubbled only a half hour before who should come 
strolling down to the kennels but the very gentle¬ 
man the lad was feverish to interrogate. 

Arrayed in a cool Palm Beach suit and a soft 
hat of white felt he sauntered up as indifferently as 
if the boy’s curiosity were not at the boiling point 
and said, “ Good evening,” in a perfectly calm, self- 
possessed tone. 


BOB 


133 


44 Good evening, sir,” Walter replied. 

“ Dogs all right? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ No more of them missing? ” 

11 Not on your — no, sir.” 

The great man turned away to conceal a smile. 

“ I’ve been seeing your brother to-day,” re¬ 
marked he. 

“Bob?” 

Mr. Crowninshield nodded. 

“ Yes. We went over to the Seaver Bay wire¬ 
less station.” 

The lad waited. 

“ You have a very fine brother, youngster, and 
one whom you may well be proud of.” 

41 Yes, sir.” 

(What was the use of telling him that? His 
Highness knew what a corker Bob was without be¬ 
ing told. Much better tell him what had happened 
at Seaver Bay, what the detectives said, and 
whether Lola had been found!) 

“ We had, in fact, quite a talk with your 
brother.” 

“ Yes, sir.” The reply came automatically. 

“ He was able to furnish us with much informa¬ 
tion regarding the man we are chasing up.” 

44 Yes, sir.” 

“ Yes,” ruminated Mr. Crowninshield with evi¬ 
dent satisfaction, “ we have the thief sketched in 
quite clearly.” 

44 Yes, sir.” 

“ With the details your brother gave us Dacie 


i 3 4 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

and Lyman have a most encouraging foundation on 
which to work.” 

“ Have they found out anything yet, sir? ” 

The question would out despite all Walter could 
do to stop it. He knew the instant it had left his 
tongue that he shouldn’t have asked it and he stood 
there hot and embarrassed at his own audacity. 

Much to his surprise, however, Mr. Crownin- 
shield did not appear to be in the least offended. 
On the contrary he seemed pleased by the lad’s 
eager interest and smiled at him kindly. 

“Yes, we’ve found out something,” said he, 
“ but it is not very good news, I am sorry to say. 
Dacie and Lyman traced the car that carried Lola 
as far as Buzzard’s Bay and discovered that 
there-” 

“Yes?” interrupted Walter, so intent on the 
story that he was unconscious of interrupting. 

“ There,” repeated Mr. Crowinshield, “ the 
thieves embarked on a private yacht that 
awaited their coming; steamed through the Canal, 
and-” 

“ Don’t say they are gone, sir I ” cried the boy. 

“ I’m afraid so, sonny.” 

“ Well, if that isn’t the limit! ” 

“It is, indeed,” rejoined the elder man heartily. 

His Highness had staggered back against the 
door in consternation. If Mr. Crowninshield had 
affirmed that the thieves had taken flight in an aero¬ 
plane he could not have been more astonished than 
by the turn affairs had taken. 


BOB 


*35 

“What do you suppose they’ll do now?” de¬ 
manded he. 

“We’ve no idea. They may make for New 
York, Boston, or some other port where they think 
they will be safe. There is no way of knowing. 
Or it may be that the person who hired them to get 
Lola is on the yacht and having now secured what 
he has been in search of he may simply cruise about 
and not land at all for months. Anything is pos¬ 
sible.” 

“ Could they get the name of the boat? ” 

“ Yes, she’s called the Siren ” 

“ Then I should think it would be easy enough 
to track her down, board her, and bring Lola 
away,” said Walter. 

“ It sounds simple, doesn’t it? ” Mr. Crownin- 
shield returned. “ But I am afraid it is not going 
to be as easy as that. We have no way of proving 
that Lola is aboard the yacht, in the first place. 
Moreover, even did we know that she was there, 
there are a thousand and one places where she 
could be hidden and defy discovery. And were 
the villains actually cornered nothing would be less 
difficult than to wring the puppie’s neck and throw 
her overboard so that nothing would remain to 
identify the wretches with their crime.” 

“ Scott!” 

“ You see now that to recover Lola is not such an 
easy matter.” 

“ I’m afraid not, sir,” was the dispirited re¬ 
sponse. 


136 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

Mr. Crowninshield glanced at the dejected fig¬ 
ure before him. 

“ We mustn’t give up beaten yet, however,” af¬ 
firmed he, struggling to be cheerful. “ The 
game isn’t up, you know. Dacie and Lyman are 
clever men and I have given them a free rein as 
to money. If there is anything to be done they 
ought to be able to accomplish it.” 

Nevertheless optimistic as the words were it was 
plain to see that Mr. Crowninshield was not really 
as sanguine as he would have Walter think. There 
was a pucker of annoyance about the corners of his 
mouth, and his eyes looked dull and discouraged. 
Say what he might His Highness knew without be¬ 
ing told that deep down in his heart of hearts Lola’s 
master had resigned himself to never seeing her 
again. 

For a few seconds the capitalist lingered, musing. 
Then he broke the stillness, hurling a bomb into the 
air with the words: 

“ By the by, I have made your brother an offer. 
I’ve suggested that he leave Seaver Bay and come 
here. I am going to give Dick a radio set for his 
birthday and I should like the aid of an expert in 
rigging it up. Besides, last season I installed a 
wireless on my yacht and shall need some one to 
operate it. This Bob of yours is precisely the sort 
of chap I want.” 

“Oh, Mr. Crowninshield!” was all Walter 
could stammer. 

“ You’d like having him here then? ” 


BOB 


137 

“ You bet your — yes, sir, I would,” gasped His 
Highness, making a dash after his manners. 

“ That’s good,” remarked the financier, much 
amused. “ I hope he’ll decide to come. You must 
use your influence to persuade him.” 

This time Walter did not forget his etiquette. 

“ I will, sir/’ replied he meekly. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE DECISION 

That night when his day’s duties had been dis¬ 
charged and he was free, the first thing His High¬ 
ness did was to pen a much blotted and somewhat 
incoherent note to Seaver Bay. Almost every sen¬ 
tence of it was underlined and some of the persua¬ 
sive adjectives and verbs were even emphasized 
in red pencil. Certainly what the epistle lacked in 
neatness and beauty of appearance was compen¬ 
sated for in sincerity and earnestness. This docu¬ 
ment mailed and reinforced by an ardent appeal 
over the telephone, there was nothing to do but pos¬ 
sess one’s soul of patience until Bob decided what 
it was best for him to do. 

To throw up a government job with practically 
assured employment for a private venture which 
might be of short duration seemed madness and the 
young radio man with his level head and sober 
judgment was not one to leap at a decision. Care¬ 
fully he weighed the pros and cons and while he 
did so Walter, and even Mr. Crowninshield him¬ 
self, fidgeted. His Highness would not have hesi¬ 
tated a moment; and that any one should do so ap¬ 
peared to him incomprehensible. As for the 
master of Surfside who was accustomed to having 


THE DECISION 


139 

his business offers snapped up the instant they were 
made, the younger man’s deliberation piqued his 
interest and respect as almost nothing else could 
have done. He had thought the terms suggested 
very generous and had expected them to be seized 
with avidity. It was something new to have a pen¬ 
niless youth waver as to whether to accept or reject 
them. 

In the meantime while the days passed no tidings 
came from the New York detectives and the dwell¬ 
ers at Surfside were compelled to settle down to 
their customary routine and put Lola’s disappear¬ 
ance out of their minds. Gardeners toiled, flowers 
blossomed, Jerry mugged about with his misty blue 
eyes following every seed that was planted, every 
turn the lawn mower made; they followed, too, 
what Walter was doing and saw to it that the dogs 
were well cared for and that his young protege ne¬ 
glected nothing. 

Walter saw little of Dick now, for the house was 
filled with guests and the place humming with 
laughter and the rush of unending sports and pic¬ 
nics. There were tennis tournaments, golf matches, 
swimming races, regattas when small fleets of 
knockabouts maneuvered in the bay. In the midst 
of such a whirl of merriment it taxed all one’s for¬ 
bearance to be nothing more than the boy who 
cared for the dogs. 

On one particularly fine, bracing June morning 
after the lad had returned from a solitary cross¬ 
country tramp with Achilles and the rest of the 
pack, his lot seemed to him especially unenviable. 


i 4 o WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

There was evidently to be a ball game. College 
boys with crimson H’s on their shirts; men with a 
blue Y; together with a group of short-sleeved 
players not yet honored with insignia from their 
universities were hurrying out to the lawn with 
bats, balls, and catcher’s mitts. 

“ You must pitch for the Blues, Dabney,” called 
one fellow to another. 

“ Who’s going to catch for the Crimson team? ” 
piped another. 

“ I choose to play for Yale,” came shrilly from 
another man who was lounging across the grass in 
immaculate white flannels. 

“ Come on and help Harvard along, Cheever,” 
put in a strident voice. 

“ Not on your sweet life! ” bawled Cheever, with 
a vehemence that made everybody laugh. “ Good¬ 
ness knows she needs help; but I’m not going to 
be the one to offer it.” 

Again there was a good-humored shout from the 
bustling throng. 

“ I’ll line up with Yale to beat you though,” 
Cheever added with a chuckle. 

“ You can line up, you shrimp, but we’re going 
to do the beating,” retorted an ardent Harvard sup¬ 
porter. 

So the banter went on while the nines were being 
organized. 

At length, however, there was a shout of dismay. 

“ We’re lacking one man,” announced the cap¬ 
tain of the Crimsons, with sudden consternation. 
“ Haven’t you another chap who can play, Dick? ” 


THE DECISION 


141 

“ Nobody, I’m afraid, unless you want to haul 
in some of the chauffeurs,” Dick answered idly. 

“ Jove! That’s hard luck. We’ve got to have a 
shortstop. What are we going to do?” 

“ Wasn’t there a boy around here somewhere this 
morning with the dogs? It seems to me I saw 
somebody — a stocky little chap with a snub nose.” 

The description was not flattering and Walter 
winced. 

“ Oh, that was King, who has charge of the ken¬ 
nels,” replied Dick quickly. “ I’m afraid he hasn’t 
come back with the bunch of poodles yet.” 

“ Yes, he has. I saw him skulking round the gar¬ 
age just now. Can’t we drum him up? ” 

“ Sure, if you can find him.” 

“ There he is!” cried Cheever. “I say, you 
master of the hounds, come on over here. We want 
you.” 

Blushing red His Highness approached the 
noisy group. 

“Did you ever play baseball, kid?” inquired 
the captain of the Harvard team. 

“ I believe so — once or twice,” answered Wal¬ 
ter soberly. 

“ Want to come in with us as shortstop? ” 

“ Sure! ” 

“ I’ve a glove that will fit him,” put in a man 
called Richardson. 

With scant ceremony His Highness was hustled 
into it and before he sensed what he was doing he 
was yelling with the rest, and head over ears in as 


142 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

exciting a game of ball as he had ever participated 
in. 

There were excellent players on both teams and 
the scoring ran so even that it was a toss-up who 
would win. From jest the game dropped into 
deadly earnestness. 

“ It’s your turn at the bat, Stubby,” asserted 
Richardson to Walter unceremoniously. “Now 
remember who you’re playing for. Don’t hand 
Yale the game if you can help it.” 

“ I’ll do my best,” was the modest reply as the 
lad gripped the bat, then rubbed his hands in the 
dirt to make his hold more certain. 

The pitcher twirled a ball. 

“ One strike! ” droned the umpire. 

Again the leather disc spun through the air. 

“ Two strikes,” called the warning voice. 

“ Great Scott, Stubbie, look out. Don’t waste 
strokes like that, you boob. Let the things go by 
if they don’t suit you. You don’t have to hit them.” 

Once more the ball spun through the air. A 
smart crack followed and up into the blue leaped 
the ball, defying the pursuit of catcher or baseman. 

“ Beat it into home plate, George!” coached 
the captain excitedly. “ Move along, you fellows! 
It’s a run for Stubbie! Slide in, Stubbie! Pick up 
your heels and sprint! Go it! Go it! Keep out of 
the way, you chaps. Hurray! Bully for you, kid! 
A beauty! Harvard! Harvard! Harvard! Rah, 
rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah, Harvard! ” 
The familiar cheer echoed loud above the shouting. 

“That lays them out! They’re dead men!” 


THE DECISION 


143 

cried Richardson triumphantly. “ Where did you 
learn to play ball, young one? ” 

“ It’s no fair borrowing a professional,” the Yale 
leader objected, trying to make a joke of his defeat. 

“ Jove, but that was a pretty hit! ” Dick said 
quietly to Walter. “ A peach! ” 

“ You’re all right son!” affirmed the Harvard 
catcher. “ Any time you are out of a job I’ll 
recommend you to the Braves.” 

A general laugh went up. 

Altogether the morning was a glorious day of 
comradeship, nor did it lessen His Highness’s hap¬ 
piness when he returned to his quarters to see dis¬ 
embarking from Mr. Crowninshield’s motor car 
the familiar form of Bob. 

“ I brought your brother back from Seaver Bay 
with me,” explained the financier. “ It took him 
so long to make up his mind whether he’d come 
here or not that I went over there to-day to find 
out whether he was dead or alive.” 

Mr. Crowninshield was plainly enjoying Wal¬ 
ter’s amazement. 

“ And you’ve come to stay? ” His Highness, all 
delight and confusion, contrived to stammer. 

“ So they tell me,” Bob laughed. 

He was a tall, handsome fellow with a grave 
mouth and thoughtful brown eyes; and when he 
spoke it was in a voice low and pleasing to the ear. 

“ Oh, Bob and I have lots of secrets we haven’t 
let you into, little chap,” affirmed the master of 
Surfside gaily. 

“ I never was so surprised! ” gasped Walter. 


i 4 4 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ We meant you should be. Your brother set¬ 
tled everything up over the telephone a day or two 
ago.” 

“ But, Bob, I don’t see how you managed to get 
away from Seaver Bay so soon. You said it would 
probably be weeks before they could act on your 
resignation, even should you send it in, and after¬ 
ward they would have to find some one to take your 
place.” 

“ Luck came my way,” Bob replied. “ The gov¬ 
ernment was closing the Bell Reef station and they 
simply shifted the two men who were there over to 
our place.” 

“ Did you and O’Connel both decide to leave? ” 

Bob’s eyes twinkled. 

“ O’Connel has just answered an advertisement 
as operator aboard a private yacht,” said he, ex¬ 
changing a glance with Mr. Crowninshield. Evi¬ 
dently there was some jest between them that 
amused them vastly. 

Curiously Walter looked from one to the other. 

“Better tell him, Bob,” murmured the New 
Yorker in a low tone. 

“ Why you see, kid, O’Connel had a chance to go 
as wireless man aboard the Siren ” 

“ Not — not the yacht that has Lola on it! ” 

“ The very same — at least we hope it has Lola.” 

“But — but—I don’t understand,” muttered 
His Highness as if dazed. 

“ Evidently, so far as we can make it out, the 
Siren passed through the Canal and not daring to 
land, cruised along the coast where she must have 


THE DECISION 


i 45 

met with rough weather. Of course that is purely 
surmise on the detective’s part. Anyhow, her radio 
operator broke his arm and had to be replaced by 
another man so they advertised for some one. 
Luckily Dacie saw the item in the want column 
of the New York paper and set O’Connel on the 
job. The arrangements have all been by letter 
through the general mail delivery of New York so 
we still have no notion as to where the Siren is. 
On Tuesday, however, O’Connel is to go over to 
New York, an agent is to meet him, and he is to be 
told where to go.” 

“ And I suppose Mr. Dacie or Mr. Lyman will 
be on hand and go along too to nail their man!” 
cried the delighted Walter. 

“ Not so fast, son,” returned Mr. Crowninshield. 
“ We are not going to track them down so close and 
scare them off at the outset. No, we sha’n’t send 
any one with O’Connel. He’ll go and meet the 
agent and follow up directions precisely as if he 
knew nothing about Lola. With Bob here oper¬ 
ating a wireless and O’Connel in constant commu¬ 
nication with him, we will have all the inside in¬ 
formation we’re after. O’Connel can soon let us 
know where the yacht is; whether Lola is aboard of 
her; and exactly when and where the owners of 
the Siren are proposing to land. They can’t make a 
move which we shall not know about in a flash. A 
pretty neat arrangement, I call it!” The New 
York magnate rubbed his hands together softly. 

“ Gee! Well, Mr. Lyman and Mr. Dacie have 
sure been busy! ” was Walter’s comment. 


146 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ You do not mention that I, too, have been 
busy,” chuckled Mr. Crowninshield. “ While you 
have been chasing the dogs over the fields and play¬ 
ing baseball,” he winked at Bob, “ I have been tele¬ 
phoning to the city for a radio set—a corking 
fine one — for Dick’s birthday. Bob, here, is 
going to install it with the aid of some New York 
electricians. It should be all in place inside a few 
days. Then if O’Connel has any messages for us 
we shall be ready for him. In the meantime Bob 
is going to break in you youngsters so that you or 
Dick can listen in and get any news that may come 
when he is off duty or aboard the yacht. If those 
fellows who bagged Lola think themselves so alK 
fired clever they will find they are mistaken. I 
did not go into this game to be beaten.” Mr. 
Crowninshield squared his jaw with bulldog reso¬ 
lution. 

“ Now you and Bob trot off and have a visit to¬ 
gether. Show him where his quarters will be. 
There is a room beside you where Jerry says he can 
bunk,” continued the master of the estate. “ Until 
the apparatus arrives from New York there won’t 
be much he can do, so you better take the chance to 
go home and see your mother to-night—both of 
you. By to-morrow or the next day at the latest 
the electricians should be here with their stuff. 
Then things will hum! ” 

With a jaunty wave of his hand Mr. Crownin¬ 
shield wheeled about and Bob and Walter were 
left alone. 


CHAPTER XII 


LESSONS 

The joy of Mrs. King when she was informed 
that both her sons were to be all summer at Surf- 
side cannot be pictured. 

“ Why, it is like a dream or an answer to 
prayer 1 ” ejaculated she. “ Think of having you 
so near! Now were Bob to be electrocuted, I could 
get to him within half an hour.” 

The fact evidently caused her profound satis¬ 
faction and each of her sons laughed. 

“ I’m not planning to end my days by electrocu¬ 
tion,” smiled Bob. 

“ Few do plan to,” was the grim retort. “ But 
anyway, whether or no, it is wonderful to have you 
so close at hand. I shall feel as if I had a great 
prop behind me.” 

“ I hope so, Mater,” Bob said affectionately. 

“ I suppose you’ll not have much time to be 
spending at home, though,” mused the mother pres¬ 
ently. “ Your work, likely, will keep you busy.” 

“ I expect it will, especially during the next fort¬ 
night,” Bob answered. “ There will be all the ap¬ 
paratus to set up and get into working order; and 
in addition the equipment aboard the yacht must be 
overhauled. I want both wireless outfits in perfect 


i 4 8 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

condition for much depends on their being trim 
and tight.” 

“ It isn’t probable you’ll have much to handle 
that is important,” declared Mrs. King. “ It won’t 
be like dealing with government messages or 
wrecks.” The two boys exchanged a glance. 
Much as they wished to they dared not initiate 
their mother into the secrets of Surfside. 

“ You never can tell what messages you’ll catch 
by wireless,” Bob returned ambiguously. “ Be¬ 
sides, Mr. Crowninshield intends to have some of 
his business relayed to him from New York.” 

“ Oh!” 

“ I guess I shall find plenty to do,” the elder boy 
remarked. 

“ Well, I reckon you will at that rate. But do 
be careful, won’t you? And don’t let Walter go 
dabbling with those evil wires.” 

“ I’ll look out for him.” 

The evasive answer did not, however, satisfy the 
woman. 

“ Surely you don’t mean to start Walter in learn¬ 
ing about wireless, do you? ” 

“ I may give him a few lessons, yes.” 

“ Now don’t you do it,” retorted Mrs. King in 
spirited protest. “ He was always a blunderer and 
were he to go messing about with electrical cur¬ 
rents I should not have a happy moment. It is bad 
enough to have one of you in constant danger with¬ 
out two.” 

“ But it isn’t dangerous,” Walter interrupted. 

“ Much you know about it,” declared his 


LESSONS 


149 

mother, wheeling on him with scorn. “ What 
experience have you had with radio, pray? ” 

Meekly the lad closed his lips. 

“ I am going to give some lessons to Mr. Crown- 
inshield’s son, Mater, and it seemed to me it was a 
good chance for Walter to learn something, too,” 
Bob responded gently. “ Sometime the kid might 
find it useful to have such knowledge. You never 
can tell. Nothing we learn is ever wasted.” 

“ No, I suppose not,” was the grudging reply. 
“ Well, just stand over him and see that he doesn’t 
kill himself.” 

“ I’ve no desire to have him killed.” 

“ No more you have. Of course not,” Mrs. King 
smiled. “ But you know if there is any way of 
crossing the wires he’ll do it. He’s made that way. 
Still, unlucky as he is, I’d not care to lose him.” 

Fondly she beamed on the ill-starred Walter. 

“ I’ll keep at his elbow, Mother,” said Bob sooth¬ 
ingly. 

“ I know you will. You were ever good to your 
brother.” She patted the big fellow’s hand. “ And 
mind the pair of you come to see me when you can. 
You’ll be busy, I know; but you mustn’t forget your 
mother.” 

a We’ll not do that,” cried the boys in chorus. 

Nevertheless in spite of the promise there were 
few opportunities during the next few days for 
either of them to go a-visiting. The New York 
electricians arrived and with them came aerials, 
generators, detectors, tuners, insulators, amplifiers, 
and all the hundred and one parts necessary for a 


1 5 o WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

perfectly equipped radio station. Mr. Crownin- 
shield had indulged in no cheap outfit. On the 
contrary he had purchased the best there was to 
be had and as the coils of copper wire, glistening 
wire rope, and spotless porcelain insulators were 
unpacked Bob’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. 
With the touch of a connoisseur he handled the 
materials, examining the quality of each. What 
was Greek to the others was familiar ground to 
him. 

A low building adjoining the boathouse had been 
hurriedly constructed and it was here, where the 
new station was to be situated, that an interested 
audience congregated daily. Perched on an over¬ 
turned packing case Mr. Crowninshield surveyed 
the installment of the novel toy which was not only 
to gratify Dick’s birthday longings but also, he 
hoped, bring to him the information he coveted 
concerning Lola. 

Much as he knew about stocks and bonds he was 
as much of a novice in the presence of things elec¬ 
trical as were either his son or Walter King, and 
therefore to their avalanche of questions he added 
still others, gratefully accepting the information 
Bob offered with the eagerness of one who is not 
too superior to learn. 

“ What is that thing they are putting in place 
now? ” inquired he. “ And what is it for? ” 

“ Oh, even I can answer that, Dad! ” cried the 
delighted Dick. “ That is the aerial or antenna 
and it catches the wireless waves as they travel 
through the air. The higher and longer it is the 


LESSONS i S i 

better, so far as messages are concerned — that is, 
within certain limits.” 

His father’s eyes twinkled. 

“ Where did you pick up so much knowledge? ” 
chuckled he. 

“ Bob told me.” 

“ I’ll be bound he did,” sniffed the man. “ I 
wasn’t asking about the antenna, though. Green as 
I am I recognized that. It was that other wire that 
interested me.” 

“ The lead in? ” asked Bob quickly. 

“ I guess so, although I never was introduced to 
it by name before.” 

Everybody laughed at the naive reply. 

“ The lead in, sir, is the conductor that carries 
the wireless waves from the aerial into the house. 
The idea is not to have it too long. It must run as 
directly as possible and be very carefully insulated 
from any buildings, trees, or masts because of the 
current.” 

“ I see. And that other thing? ” 

“ That is the lightning arrester. It can be fast¬ 
ened inside or outside the station, as is most con¬ 
venient; but it is compulsory to have it to satisfy 
the insurance companies. The antenna is secured 
to it and by means of a ground wire any electrical 
discharges will in a great measure pass off through 
the earth.” 

“ Mater should see that,” murmured Walter mis¬ 
chievously to Bob. 

The elder brother nodded humorously. 

“ The ground helps a lot in radio work,” con- 


ij2 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

tinued he. “ In fact were it not for good old 
Mother Earth furnishing her aid, we should have 
no wireless at all. One side of our circuit passes 
through the ground and the other half, which com¬ 
pletes it, goes through the air between the aerials 
of the different stations. Therefore you can readily 
see that it is most important to make sure of a good 
earth connection. Often city water pipes are re¬ 
sorted to, the contact being made by soldering a 
wire to the water faucet. Down here on the Cape, 
however, where there are only wells and wind¬ 
mills we shall have to sink some metal plates in the 
ground and connect the wires with these.” 

“ And that is all that goes outside the build- 
ing? ” 

“ Yes, sir. The lead in brings the wires into the 
station and they are then connected up with the 
receiver. Sometimes there are separate antennae 
for sending and receiving messages. Of course the 
big stations always have two. But for a place this 
size and doing such a small amount of business we 
can send and receive from the same wire. With 
a tuner, which can be tuned to bring you into the 
same key with the station you are listening to; a 
detector to catch the signal after the persons talking 
have been brought into tune; and an amplifier that 
intensifies or increases the sound you have your re¬ 
ceiving outfit. Batteries you know about without 
my telling you; and the head ’phones too, which 
you have of course seen telephone operators wear 
hundreds of times.” 

“ Yes, I believe I should recognize one of those,” 


LESSONS 


153 

laughed Mr. Crowninshield. “So that is all there 
is to it, eh? ” 

“ That is about all there is to receiving, yes.” 

“ The sending part of the machine is more com¬ 
plicated, is it? ” 

“ Yes, sir. And so is the job,” smiled Bob. 

“ I mean to learn to transmit as well as receive,” 
put in Dick. 

His Highness grinned derisively. 

“ Do you indeed! ” said he. “Well, there is 
nothing like aiming high. But I guess for the 
present you’ll be pretty well content if you get so 
you can take down the Morse code as it comes in.” 

“ Is it so hard? ” 

“ That depends on how good you are at memor¬ 
izing dots and dashes. French verbs are nothing 
compared to it.” 

“ I hadn’t thought of learning to read code.” 

“ You have to, son, if you are going into wireless. 
With a tutor here on the spot, it should not be dif¬ 
ficult. Besides, that is half the fun. I want you to 
learn this thing intelligently and not just make a 
plaything of it. I’ve done my part by buying you 
the best outfit there was to be had. The rest is 
up to you.” 

“ That’s square, Dick.” chimed in Walter. 

“ Sure it is. I’ll go to it and do my darndest, too, 
Dad,” returned the boy. 

“That’s the proper spirit!” exclaimed his 
father. 

H is Highness smiled with ironic satisfaction. 

“If Bob is to tutor you you will study harder 


i S 4 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

than you ever did in your precious life,” whispered 
he. “ I know Bob. He can be stiff as any college 
professor. He tutored me in Latin once to pull 
me through my exams and I barely lived. I don’t 
envy you, old man.” 

“ Gee! Will it be that bad? ” 

“ You will get all the wireless coming to you, 
that’s all. Take it from me,” was the teasing re¬ 
joinder. 

“ Oh, I hope he won’t bone down as hard as 
that,” wailed Dick dolefully. “ I want to get some 
sport out of this thing. I wasn’t planning to be 
turned into a galley slave during hot weather.” 

Seeing that he had his victim thoroughly terri¬ 
fied Walter thought it time to shift the jest. 

“ Don’t fret. I was only jollying, old chap,” de¬ 
clared he. “ Bob won’t really stand over you with 
a whip. He is the best fellow alive. Still, he will 
expect you to work if you set out to do so. He is 
always terribly in earnest about whatever he under¬ 
takes. I suppose that is why he has got on so well 
and never failed to make a success of what he has 
tried to do. You can count on him to duff into this 
job with the same spirit. You’ll yet your 
money’s worth of instruction, you may be sure, if 
he has been hired to give it.” 

Dick shrugged his shoulders. 

“ Well, I guess I can stand it if he is not too 
rough on me,” responded he. “ I do not mind 
studying so much if it is about a subject f like; and 
I am crazy about wireless.” 

“ Oh, it isn’t the wireless part I object to,” 



46 You will get all the wireless coming to you, that’s 
all. Take it from me.” Page 154. 














LESSONS 


i55 

drawled His Highness. “ It is that dot and dash 
code that gets me. I never could learn it if I tried 
ten years; and as for taking twenty words a minute 
in any language — well, they could have the whole 
outfit before I’d do it.” 

“ I shall be interested to see what speed I can 
make,” mused Dick. 

“ Speed! ” You won’t make any speed at all — 
at least not at first, so do not hope or expect to. If 
you even get the words correctly you will be going 
some,” sniffed Walter. “ Still, I guess you need not 
worry for the present about receiving or sending 
messages for Bob will give you a lot to think about 
before that. As for the Morse code, you may not 
meet it for weeks.” 

“ What do you mean? ” Dick inquired. 

“ Oh, Bob will get right down to brass tacks at 
the start and find out what you know about elec¬ 
tricity and wireless anyway. That is the way he 
did to me when he tutored me in Latin. He wasn’t 
content with just translating Caesar but must needs 
splash right into Roman history and make me hunt 
up everything I could find about the Goths and 
the rest of those heathen tribes. Gee, but he made 
me sweat! He will do that with you and your 
wireless. If you think you are going to begin tak¬ 
ing messages in code you don’t know Bob.” 

Having delivered himself of these brotherly ap¬ 
preciations His Highness walked away, leaving 
Dick to ponder on the joyous prospects they con¬ 
tained. His sinister prediction Richard Crownin- 
shield soon found to be true. Thorough was no 


156 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

name for Bob King. Before a week had passed 
Dick whimsically remarked to his father that it 
must be a task to Bob to swim on the top of the sea 
without diving down with a spy glass and examin¬ 
ing every particle that was on the ocean’s bottom. 
The fact that the new tutor never dipped into any 
subject but instead explored it greatly delighted 
Mr. Crowninshield. 

“ I shouldn’t mind letting that young chap tutor 
me a little,” observed he half jestingly to his wife. 
“ I am as vague as a fog when it comes to this wire¬ 
less business. I should get a lot of information if 
I listened in on Dick’s lessons.” 

The words, idly spoken, much to the amusement 
of all became a reality. After drifting in to the 
first talk Mr. Crowninshield came to the second les¬ 
son and from then on he became a regular pupil. 

“ You needn’t be afraid I have come here to crit¬ 
icize,” explained he with appealing simplicity. 
“ I’m green as grass and have come to learn.” 

“ It is just that you have not had the time to take 
up radio, sir,” was Bob’s modest answer. “ We all 
have our specialties.” 

“ That’s right,” agreed the capitalist. “Some¬ 
times I fall to wondering whether it is better to 
know something about everything or everything 
about something.” 

“To know something about everything would be 
spreading it pretty thin, I am afraid,” was Bob’s 
characteristic reply. 

“ That wouldn’t do for you, eh? ” remarked Mr. 
Crowninshield with a chuckle. 


LESSONS 


i57 

“ It would not satisfy me; no, sir. As it is I 
cannot begin to master what there is to be known 
concerning this one branch of science. Were my 
head to be filled with a little of everything I should 
feel as if it were a grab bag.” 

“ Many heads are,” was the laughing retort. 
“ Still, with each successive generation rolling up 
its accumulation of knowledge the intellectual 
snowball is getting to be of ponderous size. His¬ 
tory’s remedy for this malady has always been to 
knock the whole structure to pieces every now and 
then and begin again. Perhaps we shall have to 
have another period of the Dark Ages and another 
Renaissance to set us right.” 

Thoughtfully he puffed his cigar. 

“ This wireless now — think of the new fields it 
has opened up. Not only are our ships equipped 
so that they can send and receive all sorts of mes- 
sages, get their location, be informed concerning 
harbor entrances and coast lines; set their com¬ 
passes and clocks but soon wireless telephones will 
be installed in the staterooms of all passenger 
steamers so that those crossing the ocean can talk 
with their friends ashore any time they may elect 
to do so. Of course there are times when such a 
thing might have its advantages; but for tired peo¬ 
ple — doctors and the like — who are trying to get 
to a spot where they cannot be reached by business 
cares it will be a negative sort of blessing. I, my¬ 
self, for example, always count on my stay on ship¬ 
board as a sort of vacation, an interval when no¬ 
body can bother me with office matters. But if in 


158 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

future I must have a wireless telephone at my bed¬ 
side I shall be no more isolated than I should have 
been had I remained at home. Pretty soon there 
will be no place under the sun where a man can 
go and get peace and quiet. The Maine woods will 
be full of radio outfits and the tops of distant moun¬ 
tains in touch with the stock market. Even an 
aeroplane carries its wireless. It is hideous to con¬ 
template! ” he sighed. “ As for city life, we shall 
be beset wherever we go. And if the fashion set 
by some of our city police of having wires tucked 
away in uniforms and a wireless receiver carried in 
the pocket prevails in due time even when we walk 
the streets we shall all be in constant touch with our 
particular headquarters.” 

At his rueful expression Bob could not but laugh. 

“ There certaily is no question that a great day 
for wireless is coming,” replied he. u Whether we 
like it or not the thing has come to stay and as yet 
we have only half discovered what can be done 
with it. It is undoubtedly rough on those who 
want isolation. But most people don’t. They are 
glad to feel, for instance, that the ocean is so small 
they can talk with their friends while they are 
crossing it. Besides, you must not forget how much 
good ship surgeons and doctors can now do for 
those who otherwise would have no aid at hand. 
Remote lighthouses and small ships that need med¬ 
ical service often signal the big liners now and ask 
advice of the ship’s doctor. I heard a little while 
ago of a lighthouse keeper whose leg was ampu¬ 
tated under the wireless direction of one of our 


LESSONS 


159 

great surgeons. Had instructions not been avail¬ 
able the man would probably have died of blood 
poison. And many times there is sickness aboard 
small vessels that are out to sea. They signal the 
symptoms of their patients and the doctor hun¬ 
dreds of miles away replies with a remedy. As all 
boats carry medicine chests the distant physician 
can easily designate what dose to give.” 

“That is a fine idea!” nodded Mr. Crownin- 
shield. “ I hadn’t thought of treating illness by 
radio. A bit tough on the doctor, though. It must 
keep him busy.” 

“ I am afraid it does. In fact some of the ship’s 
surgeons are demanding higher pay because of the 
rush of work put on them. To have the health of 
a large ship under one’s supervision is task enough 
without treating all the people sailing the ocean. 
They say some doctors are all in after a trip simply 
because of the extra calls that pour in from outside 
ships and stations. It keeps them hopping day and 
night, for of course no decent doctor will ever re¬ 
fuse aid to those who are suffering.” 

“ Humph! ” That is quite a new phase of wire¬ 
less.” 

“ It proves it can save life not only at a time of 
shipwreck but in other crises as well,” Bob re¬ 
sponded with enthusiasm. “ Now all that remains 
is for some clever fellow to come along who shall 
find a remedy for the difficulties that baffle the ra¬ 
dio man. Then the science will come into its own. 
We must get rid of static interference — our great¬ 
est bugbear.” 


160 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


“ Come, come, son! You must not spring any 
of your technical terms on me. Remember that 
while I am old in years I am still young in radio 
knowledge. Before you go slipping those phrases 
jauntily off your tongue you have got to begin 
at the very beginning and tell us the laws on which 
the radio telephone is based.” 

“ That is a rather big order, sir,” Bob replied 
modestly. “ However, I am willing to try to fill 
it. I can at least pass on to you all that I know my¬ 
self.” 

“ That will satisfy me,” affirmed the capitalist. 
“ I see no reason, either, why your young brother 
cannot arrange his work so that he can join our 
class. The more the merrier. I even propose to 
drag in my wife and daughter. If in future we 
are to have wireless apparatus wherever we go it 
will be unintelligent not to know something 
about it.” 

“ I am afraid it is going to pursue us pretty much 
to every corner of the earth,” smiled Bob gravely. 
“ You see, one of its great advantages is that it can 
go where the telephone with its myriad wires and 
poles cannot. It would be out of the question, for 
example, to string telephone wires through densely 
wooded sections and to the tops of high mountains, 
and even if the impossible could be accomplished 
the expense of keeping such lines in proper repair 
would be so great that no one could afford to 
shoulder it. Poles rot and wires rust out with wear 
and exposure to weather. Then there is the dam¬ 
age from gales, ice-storms, and falling timber. 


LESSONS 


161 


Even under the best of conditions linemen would 
be kept busy all the time repairing the equipment. 
And as if these difficulties were not great enough 
in times of peace think of the added burden of 
protecting miles and miles of telephone wires in 
time of war. Contrast with this the small district 
to be protected when it comes to a wireless station. 
Instead of having soldiers scattered through miles 
of territory the few needed can be concentrated 
within easy reach of provisions and reinforcements. 
And the same advantages that the radio telephone 
has on land prevail as well at sea for transmission 
of messages by cable is a frightfully expensive 
thing. Not only is the laying of such a line dif¬ 
ficult, dangerous, and costly, but to maintain it is 
expensive and hard as well. In time of war it is 
particularly at a disadvantage since the cable can 
be cut and all communication with the outside 
world easily severed. Wireless, on the other hand, 
is not dependent on any such extravagant equip¬ 
ment. It finds its own way through air, water, and 
earth with very little help from us; and if it has 
its defects we must not forget that the first tele¬ 
phones were far from perfect, and that both tele¬ 
phone and cable have also their disadvantages.” 


CHAPTER XIII 


INFORMATION FROM A NEW SOURCE 

During the interval when the new radio station 
was being put in order and the parts of the outfit 
assembled Bob King and the two city electricians 
toiled early and late. They scarcely stopped to eat, 
so feverish was their haste. Mr. Crowninshield 
had let it be known that if the wireless apparatus 
was in condition to send and receive messages with¬ 
in a week he would add to the regular wages of 
the mechanics a generous bonus and this incentive 
was sufficient to cause the avaricious workmen to 
transgress the laws of the labor unions and forget 
any fatigue they may have experienced. 

As for Bob he was far too eager to get into touch 
with O’Connel and the Siren to covet extra pay for 
rushing through the installment of the new service. 
A private signal had been agreed upon between 
him and his former associate and also an hour set 
when each day the operator aboard the yacht was 
to call him. O’Connel was to allow seven days for 
the work at Surfside to be finished and then his 
messages were to begin and both Mr. Crownin¬ 
shield and his alert employee meant to be ready for 
him. 

Hence Bob whipped on his helpers, using every 


INFORMATION FROM A NEW SOURCE 163 

ray of daylight that could be turned to the purpose 
and much of the night. Even after everything 
was placed and connected up there would yet re¬ 
main a great deal of testing out and tinkering be¬ 
fore the set would be in perfect working condition 
and it was for this delay he was preparing. 

Much to his surprise, however, the parts went 
together with astonishingly little trouble. They 
had been well made and fitted perfectly. Every¬ 
thing needed was at hand and in consequence there 
was no sending to the city for materials and wait¬ 
ing until they could be shipped. Therefore as the 
allotted time sped by the job that accompanied it 
moved rapidly to its end. 

“We are going to make it, sir,” ejaculated Bob 
with shining eyes, beaming enthusiastically on the 
master of the estate. “ She will be all set up and 
working by Saturday. That is the day O’Connel 
was to make his first try to get into communication 
with us. I can hardly wait to hear what he has 
to say.” 

“ I am pretty anxious to know myself,” returned 
the elder man. “ If he can get a message through 
we should then find out where the yacht is and 
whether Lola is aboard her.” 

“ I’m crazy to learn what has become of the 
villains who pinched the dog,” added Bob. “ Do 
you take it they are still cruising with the boat? ” 

“ Oh, they must have been paid off and landed 
somewhere,” was the answer. “ There would be 
no sense in detaining the thieves on the ship until 
now. It would only mean paying them and having 


164 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

them to feed; besides one does not care to make 
two rascals members of a house party.” 

“ You think they have escaped us then.” 

“If by escaping you mean getting to the city, 
yes,” nodded Mr. Crowninshield. “ But I do not 
feel at all sure with Dacie and Lyman on their 
track that they will be entirely safe and unmolested 
in town. Those detectives are like bloodhounds 
and will run them down no matter where they may 
be hiding. The mere fact that they have got to 
New York or Boston will not be much protection.” 

“ You intend to get them then as well as to re¬ 
cover Lola.” 

“ I certainly do,” retorted Mr. Crowninshield 
with emphasis. “ I am going to recover my prop¬ 
erty, jail the thieves, and bring the people who re¬ 
ceived the stolen goods to justice.” 

“ They have a week’s start of us,” Bob observed 
doubtfully. 

“ But we have not been idle all that time, man! 
Dacie and Lyman have been working; O’Connel 
has been using his eyes and ears — I hope; and 
we have this wireless set up.” 

“Yes, we have certainly accomplished some¬ 
thing,” admitted Bob. 

“Accomplished something! I should say we 
had! Besides, this is not the sort of case one need 
hurry on. Nothing is going to be done suddenly,” 
explained the financier. “ Having got the dog the 
people on the yacht will move at their leisure. 
They do not fear that any one is at their heels chas¬ 
ing them up. Furthermore the sea offers unend- 


INFORMATION FROM A NEW SOURCE 165 

ing concealment for their crime should they be pur¬ 
sued and trapped. It is the thieves themselves who 
are the scapegoats and the ones in danger, accord¬ 
ing to their reckoning.” 

“ I suppose so,” agreed Bob. “ Still, I cannot 
help wishing we might have got after them without 
even these few days intervening.” 

“ You forget, my son, that our wireless is going 
to cover space so quickly that hereafter we shall 
have our information very quickly and shall be ex¬ 
actly as well off as most detectives used to be in 
double the time.” 

“ Yes, that is so.” 

“ Once we are in touch with O’Connel we can 
know every thought they think aboard the Siren as 
soon as they have thought it.” 

The uncertainties that clouded the younger 
man’s face vanished. 

“ That’s right,” smiled he. “ From now on we 
should be able to checkmate them pretty neatly.” 

Mr. Crowninshield put his finger to his lips 
significantly. The two city electricians were ap¬ 
proaching. 

“ Well, sir,” began the foreman, “ I guess your 
wireless tests out pretty near right; we’ve signalled 
our home company and got a reply from New York 
clear as a bell. With this chap at hand,” he mo¬ 
tioned to Bob, “ you won’t be needing us much 
longer, I reckon.” 

“ Have you got to rush back to another job? ” 
questioned the financier. 


166 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


“ Well, there is always plenty to do,” grinned the 
man good-humoredly. 

“ You couldn’t remain over a few days and over¬ 
haul my yacht, could you? She is anchored out in 
the bay close at hand. If you could be tightening 
things aboard her and seeing everything is right 
I would keep this young man at this shore station.” 

“ Why—” the mechanic hesitated, fingering the 
roll of bills that stuffed his pocket. “ Why,” re¬ 
peated he, “ I imagine we could fix things up with 
the boss and stick round until whatever you wanted 
done was completed, sir.” 

“ Arrange it then. Get the yacht into condition 
quickly so we can put to sea any day now that we 
choose.” 

“ We’ll do that, Mr. Crowninshield,” responded 
the men in chorus. “ Unless there is a lot to do to 
the outfit —” 

“There isn’t. It was all new in the fall; and 
we have been in Florida this winter too, so the ship 
has been in commission and constantly taken care 
of.” 

“ In that case there will probably be little repair¬ 
ing,” nodded the spokesman. “ Maybe tightening 
and oiling, and a few small parts to be replaced.” 

“ That is about it.” 

“ Couldn’t I —” Bob began but Mr. Crownin¬ 
shield held up a cautioning finger. 

“ I’d rather have you on shore,” announced he 
quietly. Then turning to the electricians he added, 
“ I suppose the radio aboard the jracht does not dif- 


INFORMATION FROM A NEW SOURCE 167 

fer much from this set. There will be nothing but 
what you can handle.” 

“ Nothing, sir; nothing at all,” was the answer. 
“ Besides, we are quite familiar with shipboard 
equipment. We do a lot of such work. Just be¬ 
fore we came down here we went down to Long 
Island and put the Siren, a very fine steam yacht, 
into shape.” 

“ The Siren, eh? ” repeated Mr. Crowninshield 
as indifferently as he could. 

“ Yes, sir. Perhaps you know the boat, sir.” 

“ I’ve never been aboard her,” replied the cap¬ 
italist slowly. “ She belongs to-” 

“ To Mr. Daly, sir. As fine a yacht as was ever 
in the water.” 

Daly! At the name both Bob and his employer 
started. It was the very man Mr. Crowninshield 
had suspected. 

“ So Daly has a place down on Long Island, has 
he? ” drawled he. 

“ Oh, no, sir. Mr. Daly’s place is on an island 
off the Maine coast. He had just put in at the Long 
Island port for some minor repairs. He said he 
was going to cruise a while this summer and 
wanted to be sure everything was shipshape before 
going to Maine. The mate told me they were wait¬ 
ing to pick up some people at Buzzard’s Bay.” 

“ Going to take the yacht through the Canal? ” 

14 Yes.” 

“ An interesting trip,” observed Mr. Crownin¬ 
shield slowly. “ That Canal is quite a time saver 


168 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

for New Yorkers.” He yawned and started to 
move away. Bob held his breath, waiting. 

“ I suppose you don’t know where Daly was go¬ 
ing for his cruise,” inquired he over his shoulder. 

“ No, sir, I don’t,” was the response of the work¬ 
man who seemed flattered at having aroused this 
degree of interest in his story. “ I believe, though, 
that before they started they were to put into New¬ 
port for provisions.” 

Newport! Then it was doubtless Newport 
where O’Connel was to be taken aboard! Bob 
dared not raise his eyes lest the excitement that 
danced in them be detected. 

“ And after provisioning up there Daly was to 
cruise, eh?” called Mr. Crowninshield. “Well, 
the Atlantic is wide and he will have plenty of 
room.” 

“ That’s right, sir,” chuckled the mechanic, de¬ 
lighted by the condescension of the great man 
whom all New Yorkers knew by reputation. Think 
of hobnobbing in this pleasant fashion with one of 
the big financiers of Wall Street! 

“ How simple and kind a gentleman Mr. Crown¬ 
inshield is! ” commented he patronizingly after the 
capitalist was out of hearing. “And so artless!” 

Bob struggled not to smile. 

Kind Mr. Crowninshield might be but hardly 
simple. Certainly not artless. What a rare lot of 
amusing incidents the world contained! 


CHAPTER XIV 


BOB AS PEDAGOGUE 

The wireless was now in commission and the 
next morning, after having waited until the hour 
designated for O’Connel’s signal and received no 
message, Bob and his pupils assembled for their 
first lesson, not in a stuffy room but on the broad, 
well-shaded veranda of Surfside. A cool breeze 
rippled the water, stirring it into tiny waves and 
as Dick dropped into one of the big wicker chairs 
he fidgeted to be out in the freshly-painted knock¬ 
about that bobbed invitingly at the float. 

His father intercepted his yearning glance and 
instantly interpreted it. 

“ Come, now!” said he half playfully. “Quit 
making sheep’s eyes at that boat, son. An hour’s 
wireless lesson isn’t going to cut your morning very 
short or prevent you from having plenty of time to 
sail, swim, or motor. Whether it does or not 
you’ve got to endure it. Your summer holiday is 
long enough in all conscience. If I had until Oc¬ 
tober with nothing more arduous to do than put 
up with an hour’s instruction early each day I 
should think myself almighty lucky.” 

“ I am lucky, Dad,” conceded Dick quickly,” 
only-” 



1 7 o WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“Lucky! I should say you werel You don’t 
know what work means. Well, it was you who 
wanted this radio outfit. You were all for it 
and-” 

“ I am for it still, Dad,” interrupted Dick eager¬ 
ly- 

“ Then go to it and master it,” retorted his 
father. “ If you do not relish the lessons swallow 
them down for the sake of the fun you are going 
to have later; for if you are intelligent enough to 
handle your wireless with some brain and under¬ 
standing you are going to enjoy it a hundred per 
cent, more in the end.” 

“ I know I shall,” Dick agreed. “ It is only that 
I am crazy to get at the thing itself.” 

The boy’s father shook his head. 

“ You are like all your generation,” said he 
severely. “ Eager to leap the preliminaries and 
land at the top of the ladder with the first bound. 
It is an impatient age and the vice extends to the 
old as well as the young. Nobody wants to fit him¬ 
self for anything nowadays. In my youth men ex¬ 
pected to serve apprenticeships and did not hope to 
achieve a position until they had learned how to 
fill it. But now everybody leaps at the big job 
and the big salary that goes with it and blunders 
along, taking out his ignorance and lack of ex¬ 
perience on the general public. As for you young¬ 
sters, you covet at fifteen everything that those who 
are fifty have. You want automobiles, boats, vic- 
trolas and radio telephones before you know how 
to run them, much less pay for them. Look at Bob, 


BOB AS PEDAGOGUE 


171 

here. He is worth two of you for he can earn what 
he has. Often I tell myself I am a fool to indulge 
you and Nancy as I do. I ought by rights to make 
you do without what you want until you can foot 
the bill for it.” Mr. Crowninshield took a few 
hasty paces across the piazza. “ Still,” added he, 
his voice softening, “ I fancy that scheme would 
be a sight harder on me than on you, for I like 
nothing better than to get you what you want.” 

For a moment he paused, looking fondly at his 
son. Then as if afraid of himself he bristled and 
continued: “ But to return to this wireless — re¬ 
member that if you do not learn something about 
it and how to use it I shall take it away. I mean 
it, mind! ” 

“ Yes, Dad,” was the timid answer. 

With this awful alternative looming like a spec¬ 
ter in his path was it to be wondered at that Dick 
resolutely turned his gaze from the allurements of 
the harbor and settled himself in the big chair with 
all his attention focussed on Bob King’s radio les¬ 
son. Moreover, human nature is selfish enough to 
like company in its misery and were not his 
mother, Nancy and Walter consigned to the same 
fate as himself? 

Therefore the initial lesson began gayly. 

At first Bob, seated in the chair of state facing 
his class, was shy and embarrassed; but soon he 
forgot himself in his subject and losing his hesi¬ 
tancy he spoke with the authority of one who has 
mastered his art. 

“ I am going to begin,” said he, “just as they be- 


172 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

gan with me at the radio station for I think if you 
get the principles of wireless at the outset you will 
find it much easier to understand it. And to do this 
we shall not start with wires, generators, detectors, 
or anything of that sort; instead we must go back 
of them all to the earth and the air, and learn how 
it is possible for sound to travel without the aid of 
human devices. For in reality there is something 
that takes the place of man-made wires. This is 
the ether. Surrounding the earth moves the air we 
breathe; and as we go higher this air becomes thin¬ 
ner and thinner until, by and by, a height is 
reached where the air gives place to ether, a sort of 
radiant energy that bridges the zone between the 
air space that encircles the earth and the sun, and 
brings to us its heat. This great sea of ether is 
made up of particles that are never still and which 
are so small that they get between every substance 
they encounter, thereby becoming a universal me¬ 
dium for transmitting light, heat, color and many 
other things to our earth. Without this body of 
ether, there would be no agency to pass on to us (as 
well as to the many other planets of our solar sys¬ 
tem and those outside it) the energy the sun gener¬ 
ates, which is the thing that keeps us alive.” 

Bob waited a moment to make sure that his point 
was clear and then proceeded: 

“ Now this energy as it moves through the ether 
takes the form of waves; and these waves go out 
not in a single train but since the ether is continu¬ 
ally disturbed by the sun, in series of wave trains 
that vary in frequency. Such waves are electro- 


BOB AS PEDAGOGUE 


173 

magnetic in character, and light, heat, sound, and 
the waves carrying wireless messages are all of a 
similar type, differing only in their relative rates of 
vibration. If unobstructed, and moving through 
free ether, all of them travel at practically the 
same velocity, that is about one hundred eighty-six 
thousand miles a second. When, however, they en¬ 
counter other substances, as they are continually 
bound to do, this rate of velocity changes. The 
waves of sound, for example, sent out by the wire¬ 
less telephone are very slow compared with the 
high-rate vibrations that produce waves resulting 
in light.” 

Again the youthful teacher paused. 

“ Now this constant turmoil in the ether which 
creates the magnetic area explains why the magne¬ 
tized needle of a compass unfailingly points north 
and south. This one simple fact is a certain proof 
of its existence. And once granting a magnetic 
field to be there it is less difficult to understand 
how wireless waves are produced in this congenial 
medium and find their way through it, following 
in their journey the curve of the earth’s surface.” 

Bob smiled at his audience encouragingly. 

“ If you can once get this wave law through your 
heads the rest is not hard,” asserted he, “ for the 
whole wireless system is based on wave motion.” 

“ With an ocean spread out before us we ought 
to be able to understand waves,” interpolated 
Nancy. 

“We ought,” nodded Bob. “And yet better 
than using the ocean as an illustration imagine a 


i 7 4 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

small pond. Think, instead, of a nice quiet little 
round pond if you can. Now when you chuck a 
stick or a pebble into that still water you know 
how the ripples will at once go out. There will be 
rings of them, and the bigger they get the fainter 
they will be. In other words, as the area widens 
the strength of the waves decreases; and as this 
same principle applies to radio you can see that it 
takes a lot of energy from a wireless station to reach 
a receiver a great distance away.” 

“I’ve got that!” cried Dick with such spon¬ 
taneity that every one laughed. 

“ Wave lengths, however, have nothing to do 
with actual distance,” went on Bob quickly. “ Of 
course we think of the wave length as the distance 
between one ridge of water and another. There is, 
though, no law that would make it possible to trans¬ 
late these spaces into our scale of miles, for some¬ 
times they are near together, sometimes far apart. 
Distance, therefore, depends on the speed with 
which the wave travels and the frequency with 
which the water is disturbed. If you keep tossing 
things in quick succession into the water you will 
get a correspondingly quick succession of waves. 
The law governing wireless waves is exactly the 
same. Their length depends on the velocity of the 
wave and the frequency of the oscillations that 
cause it. Or to put it another way, in order to 
reckon a wave length you must determine its ve¬ 
locity (which is not impossible when you remem¬ 
ber that sound travels about one thousand one hun¬ 
dred and twenty feet every second) and the num- 


BOB AS PEDAGOGUE 


i75 

ber of vibrations the particular note causing the 
wave is making per second. Now science has been 
able to compute just how many complete vibrations 
a certain note, key, or pitch as you may please to 
call it, makes each second, or how many times the 
particles of air vibrate back and forth when that 
especial note is sent out. 

“ Suppose, for example, a note makes 240 com¬ 
plete vibrations a second while traveling 1,120 
feet; if we divide 1,120 by 240 we shall get 4.66 as 
the wave length of this note. So it is the pitch to 
which a note is keyed that helps determine its dis¬ 
tance; and the force employed to start the note sent 
out through the magnetic field. That is why a mes¬ 
sage projected into the ether from a high-power 
station carries a greater distance than one sent from 
a station where the power is weaker. It is by power 
and pitch, then, not by length that we gauge wire¬ 
less waves. Do you see that? ” 

A chorus of assent greeted the question. 
“That’s bully! ” Bob announced boyishly; then 
blushed at the undignified ejaculation. 

“ Don’t you be fussed, young man,” smiled Mr. 
Crowninshield. “ We’re all of an age here.” 

“ I quite forgot,” apologized the tutor. 

“ That is exactly what I want you to do,” re¬ 
turned the master of Surfside. “ Ignore us old 
people. We are only listening in, anyway, and 
have no earthly right to be here.” 

“ Still, I wish to treat you with-” 

“ It’s all right, Bob.' We understand,” put in 
Mrs. Crowninshield reassuringly. 


i 7 6 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ Well, then, if you will excuse me I’m off 
again,” replied the boy. “ And now that we’ve got 
wave lengths settled to our satisfaction we must re¬ 
member some other things. One is that sound trav¬ 
els not only through the air but through the water. 
In fact, sounds are louder under water than they 
are above it. Water is not only a better medium 
for carrying sound but also, since it contains fewer 
obstructions, sound waves travel farther through it. 
Another thing which we must not forget is that our 
ears do not hear all the sounds that go on about 
us. The merciful Lord has arranged that when 
there are less than twenty-four vibrations a second, 
or more than forty thousand they escape us. But 
a wireless instrument, on the contrary is spared 
nothing, having attached to it a detector that 
catches every sound and an amplifier that magni¬ 
fies it and makes it discernible to our ears. When 
you listen in on a wireless telephone you will be un- 
eontestably conscious of this. Also you must take 
into consideration that the waves sent out by a 
radio transmitter are not choppy, irregular ones 
such as you get when a stone is tossed into the 
water; wireless waves go out in regular, well- 
formed relays that neither overlap nor obscure one 
another. Were this not so the signals made would 
be jumbled together and utterly unintelligible.” 

“ Sure they would!” Bob’s young brother 
nodded. 

“ Now to insure these several results we are com¬ 
pelled to resort to the help of scientific apparatus. 
Therefore at every receiving station we have de- 


177 


BOB AS PEDAGOGUE 

vices that will intercept the waves as they come in; 
retransform them into electrical oscillations; and 
catching the weak oscillations make them strong 
enough to be read. Hence we use some type of 
induction coil by means of which a battery current 
of such low pressure and diffused flow as scarcely 
to be felt will be transformed or concentrated into 
a pressure that is very powerful. In order to form 
wireless waves we must have a frequency of at least 
one hundred thousand vibrations a second; and as 
it is out of the question to produce these by mechan¬ 
ical means we employ a group of Leyden jars. 
Such jars you have of course seen. They have in 
them two pieces of tinfoil separated by glass, which 
is a nonconductor of electric currents, and various 
other acids and minerals. When you connect a 
number of these small jars together you have a bat¬ 
tery as powerful as that of a large single jar.” 

“ I’never saw jars like those,” objected Dick. 

Bob beamed at the intelligence of the demurrer. 

“ When I say jar,” explained he, “ it does not 
necessarily mean that these jars are of the round, 
cylindrical shape that comes to mind when you 
mention the word; on the contrary Leyden jars are 
often flat because such a form makes them more 
compact. That is also why we use several little 
ones instead of one big one. But whatever their 
shape the principle involved is always the same. 
When the terminals are connected with a current 
the jar will not only receive but will retain a charge 
equal in pressure to that of the device sending the 
current. And when you go even farther and bring 


178 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

the terminals near together, the quick discharge 
that takes place creates an electric spark which is 
in reality a series of alternating flashes that come 
so fast as to be blurred into what appears to be 
one. Could we separate these flashes we should 
find that each of them lasts less than a thousandth 
part of a second. The frequency of such oscilla¬ 
tions is regulated by what is technically termed 
capacity, that is the size of the Leyden jar. The 
smaller the capacity the greater the frequency of 
the flashes. 

“ Now this spark, or oscillatory discharge 
emitted from the Leyden jar, does not result from a 
single traveling of the current all in one direction; 
instead the electricity moves back and forth, or 
alternates, and the space where the discharge takes 
place (and which, by the way, can be lengthened 
or decreased as pleases the operator) is known as 
the spark gap.” 

“ But I should think this explosion of the spark 
would make a noise,” commented Walter. 

“ Bully for you, little brother! ” returned Bob, 
smiling at His Highness. “ You are quite an elec¬ 
trician. If the current is strong, or, in other words, 
if the discharge is a high frequency one, it does. 
Hence something has to be used to deaden the 
sound just as a muffler is used on a motor boat. It 
is important, however, that this muffler should not 
prevent the operator from watching the condition 
of his spark for otherwise he could not keep track 
of his battery or know whether it was on the job or 


BOB AS PEDAGOGUE 


179 

not. So you will find little peepholes of mica or 
glass in the sides of the muffler.” 

“ Windows,” murmured Nancy grasping the 
idea and translating it into the vernacular. 

“ Exactly,” Bob agreed. Evidently his audience 
were understanding what he was trying to make 
clear to them. 

“ Now we have our high frequency oscillations 
occurring in the spark discharged from the Ley¬ 
den jar and jumping the spark gap; nevertheless 
they would not do us any good were there not some 
way to use and regulate them. This brings us to 
the induction coil of which I spoke a second ago.” 

“ It sounds very terrible,” smiled Mrs. Crownin- 
shield. 

“ It isn’t, though,” answered Bob, returning the 
smile. “ In fact it is a very simple device — noth¬ 
ing more than a dozen or so twists of copper wire 
reeled about a wooden frame exactly as strands of 
thread might be wound round a spool. One end of 
the inductance is connected permanently with the 
ground and from the other end two movable wires 
go out, one of which can be connected with the 
spark gap and the other with the antenna that goes 
into the air and catches the sound waves. There 
isn’t anything very terrible about that, you see.” 

“ Antenna is what butterflies have,” suggested 
Nancy vaguely. 

“Quite right!” assented the wireless man. 
“ Only radio antennae are not to feel with — at 
least not in the same way. Nevertheless they do 
reach out and capture the sound. On all wireless 


180 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


stations you will notice the masts that support 
them. Sometimes there is one wire, sometimes a 
group. It is the wires themselves, remember, not 
the masts, which are the antenna?. Nowadays, 
however, you will occasionally see an indoor aerial 
used in connection with small, low-power outfits. 
It does away with the masts and outside equip¬ 
ment and frequently serves the same purpose quite 
satisfactorily. But most persons prefer the older 
method and for long-distance work it has, up to 
date proved to be indispensable. Now the anten¬ 
na has both electrical capacity and inductance, and 
when connected up with the apparatus a wireless 
operator can at will cause it to disturb the magnetic 
fields surrounding the earth.” 

“ You didn’t say how high these masts had to 
be, Bob,” put in Mr. Crowninshield. “ Are they 
always the same length? ” 

“ Oh, no, indeed, sir,” was the prompt response. 
“ Their length varies according to the type of ser¬ 
vice required of them. I’m glad you asked the 
question. Sometimes the masts are about two hun¬ 
dred feet high; again they may approximate four 
hundred and eighteen feet. And sometimes in 
emergencies you will discover no masts at all, the 
wires being fastened instead to captive balloons or 
kites which hold them in place long enough to send 
or receive hasty messages. This latter method is 
usually resorted to in wartime or during army or 
navy maneuvers. There are also compact radio 
sets to be had that can be carried on mule-back and 
set up and taken down on a hurried army march. 


BOB AS PEDAGOGUE 181 

On shipboard the ordinary masts of the vessel serve, 
of course, to support the antenna.’’ 

“ Thank you, Bob. That is exactly what I 
wanted to know,” said Mr. Crowninshield. 

“ I’m glad, sir. Now you’d think by this time 
we had everything necessary to produce our wire¬ 
less waves and yet we haven’t. There is still one 
thing almost more important than all the rest that 
we have not yet spoken of.” 

“ What’s that, Bob?” piped Walter. 

“ The tuner. You recall that at the beginning 
I mentioned the pitch, note, or key of the sound 
produced or received?” 

“Yes,” returned the class in chorus. 

“ Well, it is in that tune or pitch, or whatever 
you prefer to call it, that a large measure of the 
secret of wireless lies. To be successful in getting 
and sending messages we must tune the oscillations, 
or key the signals caused by the discharge of the 
battery in our Leyden jar, so that they will be in 
harmony (or at precisely the same pitch) with the 
antenna circuit. That is, the parts of the instru¬ 
ment must synchronize, just as two persons who 
would talk together must speak in the same lan¬ 
guage. This adjustment is made in the inductance 
coil because although both the Leyden jar where 
the spark is generated that causes the oscillations 
and the antenna can be regulated independently of 
each other a few turns of the inductance coil affects 
each circuit. After the two circuits have been 
adjusted to the same frequency they are said to 
synchronize. Often to reach this result a device 


182 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


is used that states precisely the wave length, and 
after the frequency of one circuit has been ascer¬ 
tained the other can easily be adjusted to corre¬ 
spond with it. The length of the wave is, you see, 
dependent on the largeness of the antenna and the 
capacity, or strength of current, of the Leyden jar. 
Just as a child uses a big stone to produce the 
largest splash and greatest waves so we must have 
a powerful force behind our wave lengths to make 
them carry most successfully. In accordance with 
this law, generally speaking, we find short wave 
lengths used for low power, short-distance outfits; 
and long wave lengths for high-power circuits 
whose aim is to traverse continents and oceans.” 

Bob pushed back his chair. 

“ I think,” said he, “ we have now come to a 
good stopping place and we will call the lesson off 
for to-day. If you digest all I have told you, you 
will have had an ample radio starter.” 

“You haven’t said much about sending mes¬ 
sages,” complained Dick. 

“ That is quite another story,” smiled the boy’s 
tutor, “ and such a long one that were I to tell it 
to you now it would mean you would get no sail¬ 
ing or swimming to-day.” 

Instantly Dick was on his feet, Leyden jars and 
inductance coils forgotten. 

“ We’ll cut it out then,” he laughed. “ Who is 
for a swim? I’ll race any man to the bath¬ 
house! ” And off he went at top speed. 


CHAPTER XV 


TIDINGS 

Two days later O’Connel’s first signal came. 

Bob was at his early morning task of oiling and 
tightening up his apparatus and cleaning it, and 
both Dick and Walter were hovering near, watch¬ 
ing him and learning all they could concerning 
the proper care of the equipment. Having made 
everything shipshape the young radio operator 
slipped the double head receiver over his forehead 
and prepared to listen in for his customary inter¬ 
val. Suddenly the boys saw him start excitedly 
and motion them to stop talking. With face alight 
he was leaning forward eagerly. Then came the 
sharp click of the Morse code and after an interval 
with radiant face the elder lad wriggled out of his 
trappings. 

“ What is it? What is it?” cried his two com¬ 
panions, hardly able to contain their curiosity. 

“ It was O’Connel.” 

u What did he say? Is the dog there? Where 
was the yacht? ” 

Breathlessly the questions tumbled one over the 
other. 

“ The Siren is anchored off Gloucester and 
bound north, probably to Bar Harbor. A dog they 


184 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

call Trixie, but which O’Connel thinks is Lola, is 
aboard the boat. The description we gave him 
seems to fit her. He says she isn’t very well — 
won’t eat and seems either homesick or seasick. 
Mr. Daly is quite worried about her.” 

“ For goodness’ sake don’t tell Dad or Mother 
that. They’ll have a fit,” Dick cried. “Should 
Lola die I believe my father would shoot Daly 
down.” 

“ But I’ve got to give him the message.” 

“You needn’t repeat all of it, need you?” 

“Oh, I think you ought to tell them,” Walter 
put in. “ They would rather know, I’m sure.” 

“ Dad will storm fit to raise the dead.” 

“We can’t help it,” answered His Highness. 

“ I am of the kid’s opinion,” Bob replied slowly. 
“ I think we should tell your father and mother 
the whole truth just as O’Connel has sent it.” 

“ Prepare for a nice, pleasant tornado, then,” 
said Dick, “ for you will get it all right.” 

“ I wish I could have talked with O’Connel,” de¬ 
clared Bob thoughtfully. “ I did all I dared. 
You see, until our license comes I am not expected 
to transmit messages from this station. We have 
to get from the government both an operator’s li¬ 
cense and a permit for the station; and although I 
put in the application promptly there is so much 
red tape about it that it seems as if the inspector 
would never show up. If I had been caught send¬ 
ing a message this morning without these blooming 
papers there would have been the deuce of a row. 
However, I took a chance because I felt the emer- 


TIDINGS 


185 

gency demanded it, and because being one of Uncle 
Sam’s own men he couldn’t very well put up the 
kick that I was not competent to handle a wireless 
outfit. Still, I shan’t dare do it again.” 

“ Isn’t there anything we can do to hustle up 
the inspector?” inquired Dick. 

“ I’m afraid not, son. Government inspectors 
are not a hurrying race,” was Bob’s whimsical re¬ 
ply. “ However, I telephoned our local man yes¬ 
terday and something may happen to-day. He and 
I used to be on quite good terms when he occasion¬ 
ally dropped in at Seaver Bay. I told him that 
if I could not get a station license pretty soon our 
whole outfit would be no good to us this season. 
He promised he would take up the matter at once. 
With that I had to be satisfied. Whether he does 
anything or not remains to be seen.” 

“ I suppose O’Connel understands this difficulty, 
doesn’t he?” mused Dick. 

“ Oh, he knows, all right, why I can’t answer 
him. I’ve assured him that his tidings have come 
through and that is all he wants to know,” Bob an¬ 
swered. “ He has dealt with the government him¬ 
self and is familiar with its deliberate habits. Be¬ 
sides, there really isn’t much we can say.” 

“ Maybe you think that,” grinned Dick, “ but 
wait until you tell D'ad that Lola is sick and hear 
him sputter. You will believe then that there is 
quite a bit that can be said. And if you get my 
mother to add her comments you will have plenty 
to relay over the wire.” 

The prophecy was indeed true, as Bob King 


186 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

proved after he had raced across the grass and over¬ 
taken Mr. and Mrs. Crowninshield on a tour of in¬ 
spection to the rose gardens. 

“ News, Bob? ” questioned the capitalist, wheel¬ 
ing about to meet the flying figure. “ What is it? 
Let us have it quickly.” 

Carefully the message was repeated. 

“ Off Gloucester, eh, and bound north? Humph! 
And they’ve re-christened the poor little pupsie 
Trixie! Hang them! O’Connel thinks she isn’t 
well? Of course she isn’t seasick. Lola has been 
out on our yacht a hundred times. The reason she 
won’t eat is because she is lonesome — misses her 
home and family. The wretches! I wish I had 
Daly here! I’d wring his neck,” blustered Mr. 
Crowninshield. 

“Isn’t there anything we can do, Archibald? 
We simply must get that dog back before she dies. 
Poor little Lola! She was such a dependent little 
creature. It is terrible, terrible! ” 

“There, there, my dear! Don’t go all to pieces 
over it. Aren’t we doing all we can? Do you want 
Daly to smell a rat and toss his stolen property into 
the sea? Dacie says to give him rope enough and 
in time he will hang himself, and I am inclined to 
think the advice wise. Still, that does not pre¬ 
vent me from wishing I could lay hands on Daly. 
I’d like nothing better than to thrash the life out of 
him.” 

“ I suppose you will telephone the detective the 
news we’ve received,” suggested Bob, in order to 


TIDINGS 187 

quell the rising storm and divert Mr. Crownin- 
shield’s attention. 

“ Yes, I’ll get New York on the wire right away. 
It is as well Lyman and his pal should know Lola 
is sick and that they can’t dally round forever.” 

“ Shall you be back for the wireless lesson?” 
called Bob, uncertain whether to ask the question 
or not. 

“ Oh, sure! It won’t help matters for us to sit 
around and wail the whole morning. We’ll be 
on deck for your radio talk at the usual time.” 

“ All right, sir.” 

True to their agreement, at the appointed hour 
both Mr. and Mrs. Crowninshield made their ap¬ 
pearance on the piazza and joined the group of 
young people who awaited their coming. They 
had, as Bob expressed it, cooled off a bit and were 
no longer in such an agitated frame of mind; never¬ 
theless anxiety had left its mark by keying the mas¬ 
ter’s voice to a sharper note, and shadowing the 
lady’s brow with a frown of annoyance. 

“ I suppose you let out on O’Connel, didn’t you, 
after he got through talking this morning? ” was 
the first remark of the owner of Surfside. 

“ I couldn’t say more than a word. Our license 
hasn’t come yet, you know.” 

“That’s so, darn it! I never saw anything in 
all my born life with so many rules attached to it 
as this wireless business. It is one tangle of rules, 
rules, rules! You might as well be tied up in a 
net,” fretted the man. 

“ There do seem to be a good many rules at first 


188 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

glance,” returned Bob pleasantly. “However, 
when you examine them most of them are both 
necessary and wise. And after all when each radio 
operator knows in black and white what he can do 
and what he can’t it is far simpler.” 

“ I suppose so,” grumbled Mr. Crowninshield. 

“ Besides, there are always slackers at every job,” 
continued Bob. “ Rules help to keep such persons 
up to the mark and prevent carelessness and acci¬ 
dents.” 

“ Yes, I fancy that is so,” came more graciously 
from the still irate gentleman. 

“ Then all stations are not alike. That com¬ 
pass station at Bell Reef, for example, that you 
were asking me about yesterday; the government 
lays out specific duties and makes special rules for 
such a station, as in fact it does for all radio sta¬ 
tions. Some of these rules relate to the care of the 
place and the cleaning and general overhauling of 
apparatus at stated intervals. There are, you see, 
certain instruments which must be cleaned and re¬ 
adjusted every day; certain others every week, 
others every month, and some every six months. 
It simply means making sure that your outfit is in 
the pink of condition with every part functioning 
as it should. There are, of course, operators who 
would see that this was done anyway, rules or no 
rules; but like every other profession there might 
be men who, off on an isolated spot with no one to 
keep them up to the mark, would grow careless and 
slovenly. Too much depends on wireless stations 


TIDINGS 189 

to run the risk of errors through imperfections in 
the equipment.” 

“ I can understand all that; but aren’t there a 
score of other regulations? ” 

“ You mean about what they shall and shall not 
do?” 

“ Yes.” 

“ There certainly are. There have to be because 
we have several different types of land stations. 
Just as the shipboard stations have their special 
kinds of work so do those on shore. For example, 
there are two different classes of radio compass 
stations, — those that operate independently and 
are located with a view to giving good cross-bear¬ 
ings to vessels that are from fifty to a hundred miles 
out to sea; and those known as harbor stations 
which are governed by a central control station and 
designed to inform ships within thirty miles of the 
entrance to outer channels of their position. The 
function of each of these stations is, as you can see, 
quite different and therefore each of them is 
obliged to have its own set of rules.” 

“ I never knew anything about radio compass 
stations before,” announced Dick. 

“ That is because you never sailed the seas and 
had to call on one for aid,” smiled Bob. “ If you 
did you would be very thankful, I guess, that the 
government has so carefully provided some one to 
answer just the sort of question you wished an¬ 
swered. I try to remember this when I get hot 
under the collar because the license for our sta¬ 
tion does not arrive. Uncle Sam can’t help it if his 


190 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

men are slow. The plan at the top is all right. 
There must be rules to govern wireless stations, be 
they governmental, commercial, or private; rules 
to regulate the wave lengths each may use; rules 
to make sure the operators who have charge of 
them know their job; and inspectors to make sure 
that every such rule is obeyed.” 

“ Who has the big chore of following up all 
these people and making certain that they are con¬ 
forming to the law?” questioned Mr. Crownin- 
shield. 

“ The Department of Commerce issues the li¬ 
censes for all private and commercial stations and 
sends its inspectors to keep an eye on whatever 
comes under their control. It is this department 
that will have jurisdiction over Surfside if the li¬ 
cense is granted. Government radio stations on 
the other hand, not only the high-power class but 
the coastal stations and everything that pertains to 
their relations with commercial stations afloat or 
ashore, whether in the United States or in foreign 
lands are entirely under the control of the Director 
of Naval Communications of the Navy Depart¬ 
ment.” 

“ I wish you’d tell us something more about 
compass stations,” Dick said. “ Were you ever 
stationed at one? ” 

“ Yes, for a little while I was on an island off the 
coast,” replied Bob. “ But I did not like it very 
well and applied for a transfer.” 

“ It must have been lonely as the dickens on an 
island; worse, even, than being at Seaver Bay. 


TIDINGS 


191 

Why in goodness did they build the station there? ” 

“ Why, you see, a compass station that operates 
independently as that one did is usually situated 
on a lightship or an island because that location is 
best suited to the sort of work it has to do.” 

“ And that is? ” 

“ To give ships their positions when they sing 
out to ask exactly where they are,” replied Bob. 
“ Since the station is fairly well out to sea itself, 
it is able to furnish excellent cross-bearings and set 
the vessel on her course in case she is off it. Ships 
have been known to miss their way, you know, es¬ 
pecially in a fog; and if they have not missed it 
they are often very grateful to be assured they have 
not and that their own calculations were correct. 
So the rule is that an operator must always be list¬ 
ening in for at least three minutes at ten, twenty- 
five, forty, and fifty-five minutes past the hour and 
be ready to answer a Q T E when he hears it.” 

“What’s a Q T E?” inquired both Dick and 
Walter simultaneously. 

“Those particular letters mean: What is my 
true bearing? It takes less time to send the letters 
than to spell out the entire sentence and therefore 
a simple code which means the same in all lan¬ 
guages is used. When such a call is received the 
operator replies: Q T S (meaning: Your true bear¬ 
ing is) and then follows it with the number of de¬ 
grees from his radio post stated in words, and also 
the name of the station responding to the message. 
It is a general rule, by-the-by, that all numerals 
used in any wireless communication must be spelled 


192 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

out to make sure of their being perfectly under¬ 
stood.” 

“ What a bother! ” ejaculated Walter. 

“It prevents mistakes, brother; and if it does 
that it is certainly worth the trouble.” 

“ I suppose so,” answered His Highness a trifle 
crestfallen. 

“ Then what do you say next? ” interrupted 
Dick, who was much interested in the subject in 
hand. 

“ Well, after you have given the true bearing the 
ship wires: QT F.” 

“ And that means? ” 

" What is my position? ” 

“ And you have to repeat those words before 
giving it just as you did before? ” asked Dick. 

“ Always,” nodded Bob. “ Every question asked 
is always repeated by the operator answering it to 
make sure that each party fully understands what 
is being talked about. You can’t risk having a ship 
complain: ‘ Oh, I thought those figures you sent 
me were so-and-so.’ No, indeed. Everything must 
be so explicit that there will be no room for blun¬ 
ders. So after you have repeated the question 
you send the latitude and longitude in words” 

“ I guess there is sense in the rules after all,” 
smiled Mrs. Crowninshield. “ Thus far we have 
not discovered any which, on being examined, were 
not both reasonable and wise.” 

“ That’s the way I feel,” Bob rejoined. “ After 
being in radio work and seeing the opportunities 
there are for mistakes I have decided operators 


TIDINGS 


193 

cannot be too careful. You see it is not like talk¬ 
ing with a person face to face. Those you are com¬ 
municating with are usually miles and miles away. 
Such stations as I have been telling you about are 
on the lookout for any six-hundred-meter calls and 
they answer in this tune. After communication 
with a ship is established, however, the tune shifts 
to seven hundred and fifty-six meters if a Navy 
vessel should be talking; if not, the six-hundred- 
meter wave length assigned is used. This leaves 
the shorter range waves to commercial vessels and 
greatly simplifies matters.” 

“ That is a good rule, too,” chimed in Mr. 
Crowninshield. 

“ And now about the harbor stations,” suggested 
Dick. 

The young tutor smiled. 

“ I had not intended to give you all this stuff this 
morning,” protested he, “ but since you are inter¬ 
ested in it we may as well go on with the subject. 
The task of the harbor stations, then, is to listen 
both on a six-hundred-meter range, and one of nine 
hundred and fifty-two — the first wave length for 
commercial and the latter for Navy ship’s calls. 
Then in response to inquiry the operator directs 
the vessel how to enter that particular harbor, stat¬ 
ing just where the entrance buoys are and where 
the channel lies. If the man at the wheel is new to 
the port this aid is invaluable.” 

“ Not much like the navigation of the old days, 
is it?” mused Mr. Crowninshield. “ I should 


i 9 4 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

think such stations would put pilots out of busi¬ 
ness.” 

“ They do to some extent,” was the reply. 
“ There are, however, always ships that cannot 
make a landing under their own steam, ships that 
have to be towed. So the pilots still find some¬ 
thing to do.” 

“ And are these harbor stations on islands too?” 
questioned Nancy. 

“ Many of them are. A small proportion of 
them, though, are in lighthouses. It all depends 
on which place has the more favorable location.” 

“ But do not the land stations that send messages 
sometimes interfere with these stations?” queried 
Mr. Crowninshield. 

“ There are rules to prevent that” laughed Bob. 
“ Of course the difference in wave length to which 
the various types of stations are limited solves a 
part of this difficulty. As I told you commercial 
stations have their own particular wave length and 
must stick to it; and private stations such as this 
one here have their range of two hundred meters 
in which to operate and are confined to not more 
than one kilowatt for sending messages. You can¬ 
not use more than this without special permission 
from the Secretary of Labor. Should you do so 
you are liable to a fine of one hundred dollars if 
your offense is deliberate; if, however, it is proved 
that your apparatus was out of adjustment and 
overreached itself you may get off with a twenty- 
five-dollar fine. In that case you must see at once 


TIDINGS 


195 

that your radio error is corrected and your outfit 
set right.” 

“ But sometimes along the coast aren’t there big 
government stations belonging to the army or navy? 
I should think these, with their press of business, 
would butt in on the smaller ones and raise havoc 
with them,” ventured Mr. Crowninshield. 

“ Where there are such mix-ups and private or 
commercial stations interfere with important gov¬ 
ernment outfits the smaller ones are not allowed 
to send messages during the first fifteen minutes of 
each hour, such time being reserved for govern¬ 
ment business. The government, on the other 
hand, must respect the rights of the littler chap 
and use this particular interval for transmitting. 
In fact, when licenses are issued this condition is 
made with private owners and the station is so 
listed. Of course, however, should an S O S call 
come, all rules go by the boards and the distress 
call has the right of way in every case.” 

Mrs. Crowninshield, smiling mischievously, rose 
from her chair. 

“ There is an S O S coming in right now for 
a lemonade,” said she, fanning herself with her 
filmy handkerchief. “ Who will join me? ” 

A chorus of “ I! ” “ I! ” greeted the question. 

She touched a bell. 

“ Bring lemonade for six, Emelie,” said she. 
“ Put in some slices of orange, some strawberries, 
and plenty of cracked ice. What a warm day it 
is! I am glad I am not out on some hot, sun-baked 
island answering radio calls.” 


196 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“You probably would not be hot if you were 
on an island out to sea, my dear,” her husband re¬ 
turned playfully. “ However, I’ll agree that this 
veranda is good enough for me on a July day.” 

The tinkling of ice cut short the conversation. 
Far away through the house its distant cadence 
sounded. 

“ The first and tallest lemonade must be for 
Bob,” Nancy announced. “He has certainly 
earned it.” 


CHAPTER XVI 


MIRACLES 

Although throughout the day Mr. Crownin- 
shield did not wander far from the telephone no 
word came from the New York detectives and 
evening saw him quite discouraged. 

“ I cannot imagine what those fellows are up 
to,” fretted he. “Now that they know where the 
yacht is and have had all day to do something about 
it, it is beyond my comprehension why they haven’t. 
Lola will be dead before they get round to moving 
on Daly.” 

“ I don’t believe they are sitting idle,” Bob de¬ 
clared in an effort to cheer his patron. “ Probably 
there will be news to-morrow.” 

“ Maybe,” sighed the financier. “ But if some¬ 
thing does not happen by to-morrow, I shall start 
myself in my own yacht to chase up Daly.” 

“ I doubt if that would do any good, sir,” pro¬ 
tested Bob. “ It might simply, as you said your¬ 
self, precipitate a crisis.” 

“ Well, a crisis is better than having nothing 
done,” fumed the man irritably. 

“ You must not forget there is O’Connel.” 

“ Much good he is doing. We have only heard 


198 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

from him once and as we have no license you can’t 
talk to him.” 

“ Nevertheless, he is on the job at his end of the 
line,” Bob answered. “ He has a lot of common 
sense, too. You can trust him to keep tabs on how 
things are moving.” 

“ Maybe I can. I hope so,” was the dismal re¬ 
tort. 

Evening, however, saw no improvement in Mr. 
Crowninshield’s mood. “Not a yip of any sort 
from those chaps in New York. One would think 
they were dead,” he growled. “ Well, I’ll give 
them one more day and then if they haven’t some¬ 
thing to show I will send them to blazes and take 
up the case myself. I almost wish I had done it in 
the first place. Here I am paying a small fortune 
and getting no results.” 

Again Bob struggled to soothe the perturbed 
mind and raise the capitalist’s spirits. 

“ Oh, we’ll hear something to-morrow, I guess,” 
said he with an optimism he did not altogether feel. 
“Maybe my license will come; or the inspector 
may appear; or O’Connel may send tidings; or 
news may come from New York. Something is 
sure to happen. Why don’t we all go over to the 
station and listen in on the broadcasting to-night. 
We are sure to get something that will be interest¬ 
ing and now that the “ loud speaker ” is in posi¬ 
tion we shall be able to hear without using 
individual receivers. You haven’t any of you 
really heard what our wireless can do.” 

“ I know it,” acknowledged the gentleman. 


MIRACLES 


199 

“ You see, just about every night during broad¬ 
casting hours we have either had company or I 
have been busy.” 

“ But are you to be busy to-night? ” inquired 
Bob. 

“ No, I fancy we’re not. Mrs. Crowninshield 
said there was nothing on.” 

“ Then why don’t we light up the boathouse, and 
all of us listen to what is going on in the world,” 
Bob suggested. “ I wish, too, Jerry might come. 
He has not had a chance to see the outfit at all, 
much less hear it. If it would not annoy you and 
the ladies just to let him sit at the back of the room 
he could hear everything now that the horn is on.” 
Bob hesitated. “ He has been so kind about help¬ 
ing us-” 

“ Sure! Ask him by all means,” Mr. Crownin¬ 
shield assented heartily. “ Or better yet, I will ask 
him myself. I am glad you reminded me of it. 
Jerry is my right-hand man and I like to give him 
pleasure when I can. What time will your show 
begin?” 

“ Oh, from seven o’clock on there is usually 
something doing, sir. But the most interesting 
part of the program begins at eight.” 

“ We’ll be on hand, then.” 

This promise won Bob imparted the tidings to 
Dick and Walter and the two assistants, as they 
dubbed themselves, hastened to prepare the new 
radio building for the reception of guests. Com¬ 
fortable chairs and gay cushions were brought from 
the house and in his enthusiasm Dick even went so 



200 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

far as to drape a flag over the entrance of the low 
room. 

“We might have hung out bunting if we’d 
known sooner they were coming,” said he. 

“ I guess they won’t care about the bunting once 
they are inside the place,” Walter asserted in a 
comforting tone. 

“ Don’t you hope the outfit will show up well? 
I do,” declared Dick. “ It would be just our luck 
to have something act up so we couldn’t hear any¬ 
thing. Then Dad, who is feeling pretty much on 
edge anyway, would announce that a wireless was 
simply money thrown in a hole.” 

“ We’re not responsible for the conditions,” 
laughed Bob. “ If static is bothersome it is not 
our fault.” 

“Nevertheless, Dad wouldn’t understand that. 
He would just think we did not know how to 
operate the thing.” 

“ Well, we’ll pray for moderate quiet,” smiled 
Bob. “ Of course I’d like the apparatus to show 
off at its best. But like a child, it probably won’t. 
We shall have to take our luck; and if we do not 
get satisfactory results to-night why the audience 
will have to come again to-morrow or some other 
time.” 

“ Maybe it won’t — at least maybe Dad won’t,” 
Dick answered incoherently. “ If he starts off in 
the yacht to-morrow-” 

“ Oh, he won’t set off to chase Daly to-morrow, 
don’t you fret,” put in His Highness. “ He was 
only sputtering. What good could he do? He 



MIRACLES 


201 


wouldn’t have any right to search the Siren even if 
he overtook her; nor could he arrest the criminals 
aboard her. Daly would pitch Lola over the side 
of the boat before he would stand by and let your 
father board his yacht and he knows it.” 

“ Maybe he does,” admitted Dick. “ Still, he 
was tremendously in earnest this afternoon.” 

“ He has calmed down some now,” His High¬ 
ness replied. 

“ I hope he’ll stay calmed,” Dick smiled. 
“ Perhaps, unless our show goes wrong and he gets 
irate at the radio company, he will.” 

In fact had the three young wireless operators 
been willing to admit it they were far more per¬ 
turbed when they heard the invited company 
approaching than they would have been willing to 
confess. In the heart of each of them was the 
same thought: the new radiophone must justify 
itself and prove that it was worth all the money 
that had been expended upon it. 

“Well, here we are! And here’s Jerry, too. 
He said he couldn’t possibly come — tried to make 
me believe he was too busy, the rascal. But I 
labored with him and finally got him here,” an¬ 
nounced the master triumphantly. 

Very hot and very uncomfortable under the gen¬ 
eral banter Jerry blushed. 

“ Now where do you wish to put us, Dick?” in¬ 
quired the boy’s mother. “We are under your 
orders to-night — yours and Bob’s.” 

“ I think you will be able to hear in any of 


202 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

these chairs — that is, if we hear at all,” Dick re¬ 
sponded nervously. 

“ What do you mean by able to hear at all? ” put 
in his father sharply. 

“ Why — eh — sometimes conditions vary,” was 
the ambiguous answer. “ One does not always 
hear equally well.” It seemed wiser to prepare 
his father’s mind for possible disappointment. 

In the meantime Bob was tinkering with the 
plugs. 

“ Everybody ready? ” he asked 

“All on deck!” came from Mr. Crowinshield 
whose depression, it was plain to be seen, had 
momentarily vanished. 

“ Then here goes! ” cried Bob. 

Instantly the quiet of the room was transformed 
into a chaos of sound. There was a shrill piping 
as of a singing wind, and a wail that echoed haunt- 
ingly through the air as the tuner revolved. 

“ What in the name of goodness-? ” began 

Mr. Crowninshield. 

“Hush, Dad! It is always like that,” ex¬ 
plained Dick hastily. 

“ But it’s horrible.” 

“ Yes, I know. But wait.” 

“ Isn’t something out of order? ” 

“No.” Dick smiled patronizingly. 

“ My soul and body,” whispered Jerry from his 
corner, “ did anybody ever hear such a sound? 
Ain’t it the wind outside. Seems as if a gale must 
have come up — a hurricane, tornado, or some¬ 
thing. If a storm’s coming I can’t sit round here. 


MIRACLES 


203 

I’ll have to be seeing to the awnings or they’ll be 
ripped to pieces.” He half rose from his chair. 

“ Don’t worry, Jerry; everything’s all right out¬ 
side,” interrupted Walter reassuringly. 

“ You mean to say it’s just in here? ” murmured 
the bewildered Jerry. Enjoying the old man’s 
confusion, Walter nodded. 

“ What you hear is the rise of our pitch,” ex¬ 
plained Dick. 

“ I should think it was the rise of something,” 
grumbled Mr. Crowninshield. 

“ We are running up our meters in order to catch 
the higher tuned waves,” Bob added. “ That is 
part of the bedlam.” 

“ And the rest? ” 

“ It is static interference.” 

“ What’s that? ” 

“ Well, static is the big bugbear of radio,” an¬ 
swered Bob, pausing a moment in regulating his 
tuner and detector. “ It is caused by stray waves 
moving in various directions through the atmos¬ 
phere, and by electrical conditions. It is the de¬ 
fect all wireless people have to fight. Sometimes 
it is worse than others and unfortunately to-night 
it promises to be pretty bad. You see it has been 
a close, heavy day and no doubt thunderstorms are 
in the air. A thunderstorm will kick up no end 
of a rumpus with wireless.” 

“ But we haven’t had any thunderstorm,” Nancy 
called above the hubbub. 

“No, but somebody else’s thunderstorm would 


204 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

bother us almost as much,” Bob explained good- 
humoredly. 

“ Never mind the thunderstorms now,” put in 
Mr. Crowninshield. “ Aren’t we going to hear 
anything but this whistling and groaning? Whee! 
There it goes again. It is for all the world like a 
chorus of cats.” 

“ It is more like a siren horn tooting up and 
down,” laughed Nancy. 

A spluttering crackle blotted out the wail. 

“ You would think they were frying doughnuts,”’ 
grinned Dick, “ wouldn’t you? ” 

“ And you really believe a thunderstorm would 
cause a noise like this?” queried Mrs. Crownin¬ 
shield incredulously. 

“ It might. We have no way of knowing exactly 
what is raising the trouble.” 

“ Do you mean to say that a storm that wasn’t 

round here at all could-” burst out Jerry, 

then stopped embarrassed. 

“ Indeed it could,” replied Bob, answering the 
unfinished question. “ You see thunderstorms 
cause powerful electrical waves that affect appara¬ 
tus miles and miles distant. Of course such waves 
vary in length but nevertheless they act on all 
aerials to a greater or less degree. Then, too, the 
atmospheric conditions are never quite identical, 
changing with the hour of the day, the season of 
the year, and local weather disturbances. For¬ 
tunately, since the air is positively electrified and 
the earth negatively, certain of these differences are 
remedied by the aerial that connects the two, the 


MIRACLES 


205 

current discharges partially seeping off through the 
ground. Sometimes, however, in spite of every 
device used, such currents are strong enough to 
cause a roar in the receiver. In addition there is 
the interference from other radio stations which 
are busy transmitting messages, and although there 
are rules that aim to reduce this annoyance, it is, 
to a certain extent, always to be reckoned with.” 

“ I should think somebody ought to invent some¬ 
thing to prevent such troubles,” declared Nancy. 

“ Why don’t you, Sis? ” asked Dick wickedly. 

“ But it is terrible to have the air so full of 
noise,” continued the girl, as she made a little face 
at her brother. “ I’ve always thought of the air 
as being still.” 

“ It is still in a general sense,” smiled Bob. “ It 
is only when the amplifier of the wireless magni¬ 
fies the sounds that we realize how many of them 
our ears fail to hear.” 

“ It’s a downright mercy they do!” exclaimed 
Jerry. 

“ You’re right there, Jerry!” agreed Mr. 
Crowninshield. 

“ But how do messages come through such a 
chaos?” Dick inquired. 

“ Sometimes they don’t,” laughed Bob. “ But 
nine cases out of ten they do because there are 
ways of combating static interference. You can, 
for instance, tune your apparatus to a higher or 
lower pitch and thereby escape from the zone 
where the noise is. That whine you hear is pro¬ 
duced by my turning the tuning knob and increas- 


206 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


ing our range of meters. Already with the higher 
vibration you will notice the hubbub has lessened.” 

“ Yes, things are ever so much clearer,” agreed 
a chorus of voices. 

“ That is one way, then, out of the difficulty. 
There are, in addition, other mechanical means 
that can be resorted to when you learn more about 
handling the outfit. Suffice it to say that in a 
general way whatever tends toward inertia, or a 
lack of electrical activity, decreases static interfer¬ 
ence.” 

There was a pause in which above the crackling 
and the wailing of the instrument a faint sound 
became audible. 

“ Gee! Did you hear that? ” cried Walter. 

“ Hush!” 

“ But I heard a voice quite distinctly.” 

“ Keep still, can’t you? ” Dick remarked uncere¬ 
moniously. 

Then plainly into the room came the words: 

“ Station (WGI) Amrad Medford Hillside, 
Mass. 360 meters. Stand by for Boston Police 
reports.” 

“ That is the police news,” whispered Dick to 
Nancy. “Among other things it gives the auto¬ 
mobiles that are lost, their numbers, and a descrip¬ 
tion of each.” 

“ Want to hear it? ” asked Bob of his audience. 

“ Not unless they can tell us they have found 
Lola,” responded Mr. Crowninshield promptly. 

“ Oh, no,” his wife hastened to add, “let’s not 


MIRACLES 


207 

listen to a long string of crimes. Goodness knows 
there are enough of them to read in the papers.” 

She shook her head warningly at Bob and 
motioned toward her husband. 

“ I’d rather hear some music,” put in Nancy. 
“ Can’t we?” 

There was an ascending wail from the tuner. 

“ Ain’t that a band? ” cried Jerry excitedly. 

“ It’s an orchestra!” Nancy ejaculated in the 
same breath. 

“ It’s gone! ” 

“ We’ll get it again,” was Bob’s confident answer 
as he twirled the knobs of both tuner and detector. 

“ There it is! ” burst out Jerry. “ It’s a brass 
band, as I live! ” 

“ Where do you suppose it is? ” speculated Mrs. 
Crowninshield. 

“ Pittsburgh or Chicago; or perhaps Newark.” 

“Not Chicago — out West! You’re fooling,” 
observed Jerry with scorn. 

“ Indeed I’m not. Wait and you’ll hear in a 
few moments exactly who it was.” 

“ I’ll not believe it unless I do,” the old man 
announced, with a zest that provoked a general 
laugh. 

“What time is it? Can any one tell?” asked 
Bob. 

“ What difference does that make,” Walter in¬ 
quired. 

“ It will give us a cue as to who it is,” was the 
explanation. “ All these broadcasting stations 
have certain hours for their programs.” 


208 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ I’ve seen those lists published in the papers, 
but I never took any stock in them,” growled Jerry. 

“You’ll have to now, Jerry,” said Nancy mis¬ 
chievously. 

She saw him scratch his head. 

“ Well, I dunno,” was his laconic reply. “The 
whole thing beats me. If that band was in 
Chicago-” 

“Hush!” 

The crash of instruments had come to an end 
and over the wire in accents unmistakably distinct 
came the words: 

“ Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing 
Company KYW Chicago, Illinois. Stand by fif¬ 
teen minutes for-” but the rest of the sentence 

was lost, for with a mighty slap of his knees Jerry 
roared: 

“ It was in Chicago — that band! Well, I’ll be 
buttered! ” 

Overwhelmed the Cape Codder had risen to his 
feet. 

“Chicago! Pittsburgh! Medford! My eye, 
but this will do me to talk about until the day of 
my death. It don’t seem possible; I’m beat if it 
does.” 

Helplessly he dropped back into his chair again, 
silenced by very wonder. 

In the meantime out of the wailing and whining 
and piping the sharp, clear-cut click of a telegraph 
instrument could be discerned. 

“ That’s the Morse code,” explained Bob. 
“Some commercial station is sending a message. 


MIRACLES 


209 

It seems to be about a shipment of lumber and 
isn’t particularly interesting.” 

“ I suppose you can read it,” said Dick envi¬ 
ously. 

“ Naturally. That is part of my job, you know.” 

“ What is a commercial station?” inquired the 
still bewildered Jerry. 

“ A station that sends only messages for the gen¬ 
eral public. Probably this load of lumber started 
out of port without the captain of the ship having 
the least idea in the world where he was to market 
it. In the interval since it left, however, the com¬ 
pany’s shore agents have secured a customer for it, 
perhaps in New Bedford, Boston, Providence, or 
some other coast city and they are now notifying 
the ship where to deliver it. Such an arrangement 
is quite common nowadays. Were the captain 
obliged to hold his cargo in port until he had a pur¬ 
chaser, as was the usual rule in the past, he would 
be wasting much precious time. By this method 
he can set forth the moment the vessel is loaded 
and during his voyage let his managers search for 
buyers. In all probability by the time he nears 
New England harbors his wares will be sold and 
orders sent him where to deposit them.” 

“ That’s a neat little scheme! ” observed Walter. 

But poor Jerry was too much overcome by the 
marvels he had witnessed to comment on this added 
miracle. All he could do was to reiterate feebly: 
“ It beats me — hanged if it don’t! ” 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE LAWS OF THE AIR 

Morning found Mr. Crowninshield in no more 
tractable a mood. Even before Bob could reach 
his post at the wireless station and adjust his double 
head receiver to his ears his employer came briskly 
across the grass with his after-breakfast cigar be¬ 
tween his lips. 

“ Well,” began he, when he was within calling 
distance, “ any news yet? ” 

“ I’m afraid not yet, sir. It is still early.” 

The great man took out his watch. 

“ Isn’t it almost time for O’Connel to signal? ” 

“ It is nearing the time.” 

“ I wonder if he will have any tidings for us? ” 

“ I certainly hope so.” The wish was uttered 
with deep sincerity. A speculation was forming in 
the young operator’s mind as to how he was going 
to pacify the irascible gentleman before him should 
no tidings come. 

“ Since I’m here I believe I’ll drop down and 
wait until you get into touch with the Siren” 

“ It is liable to be quite a little while. Some¬ 
times there is delay.” 

“ No matter. I’ve nothing especial to do to¬ 
day.” 


THE LAWS OF THE AIR 


211 


With sinking heart Bob turned away and began 
to fuss with his oil can and a bit of cotton waste. 

“ As you will, sir,” was all he said. 

“ You think, don’t you, that we will hear some¬ 
thing definite this morning? ” 

u There is no telling.” 

“ No, of course not. Nevertheless O’Connel can 
at least let us know whether Lola is worse or bet¬ 
ter.” 

“ Yes, we ought to ascertain that.” 

“ He wouldn’t be such an idiot as to stand by 
and see the dog die, would he? ” 

“ One never can predict just what another per¬ 
son will do. However, I feel sure you can trust 
O’Connel. I never knew him to bungle anything 
yet.” 

With that comfort Mr. Crowninshield was 
obliged to content himself. 

Notwithstanding it, however, he began to pace 
nervously back and forth, and every time there 
was a sound in the room he would whisk about 
with the quick remark: 

“ Didn’t you hear something? ” 

But although he fretted and fumed, strolled out 
the door and in again, no amount of impatience 
appeared to hurry matters. 

Even Bob began to lose his poise and fear no 
message was coming when suddenly the well- 
known signal came and the familiar clockwork 
began to be clicked off. 

“ Is it he? ” demanded Mr. Crowninshield in a 
tense whisper. 


212 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

Bob nodded. 

On clicked the code. Then suddenly it stopped 
and the man who was watching saw the operator 
raise the discs of rubber from his ears and shake 
himself free of his metal trappings. 

“ Well? ” inquired Mr. Crowninshield in quick 
staccato. 

“ It was O’Connel. All he said was: Wait de¬ 
velopments” 

“ Not a word about Lola? ” 

“ No, sir.” 

“ Not a reference of any sort? ” 

“ That was all.” 

“ But that is no kind of a message,” announced 
the exasperated owner of Surfside. “ Why, it 
might mean almost anything.” 

“ It sounds hopeful to me.” 

“ I don’t see any hope in it,” was the despondent 
answer. 

“ It least it gives us to understand that something 
is brewing.” 

“ But why couldn’t he have told us more? ” 

“ Perhaps he did not dare to. They may have 
begun to suspect he was sending private messages.” 

“ Humph! I had not thought of that.” 

“ Or possibly he may have been in a rush. He 
sent the letters at a tremendous pace — so fast that 
I had to race him. It seemed as if he was afraid 
he might not be able to get the message through.” 

“ You didn’t answer anything, I suppose.” 

“ Only my signal to let him know I was listen¬ 
ing.” 


THE LAWS OF THE AIR 


213 

“ Then you think there is nothing more to be 
done at present but sit right here and see what 
happens? ” 

“ I do not see how we can do anything else.” 

“ It’s frightfully annoying.” 

“ Yes. Nevertheless it is our only course.” 

“ You’ve no inkling whether the developments 
he mentioned are to be soon or not? ” 

“ Not the ghost of an idea.” 

“ Then there is nothing for it but to hold on right 
here a while longer, I’m afraid. And since we 
are all to be tied to the spot you may as well come 
up to the house later and give Dick his usual radio 
lesson.” 

“ Very well, sir.” 

With a curt nod the financier went out the door 
and after seeing that everything was right Bob 
locked up the building and followed him. 

He found the little group assembled in the lee 
of the awnings waiting for him. Mr. Crownin- 
shield was there, too, gnawing fiercely at a fresh 
cigar. 

“ I hear you have had a message, Bob,” Mrs. 
Crowninshield said as he approached. 

“ Yes; a rather hopeful one, I think.” 

“I’m so excited! We all are. What do you 
suppose is in the wind? ” 

“ I’ve no idea. Something good, I hope.” 

“ Is that Morse code hard to learn? ” inquired 
Nancy. 

“The Morse Continental? That depends on 
what you consider hard,” smiled Bob. “ If your 


214 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

memory is good and you are quick at catching 
sounds it ought not to be very awful. Numberless 
persons do learn it.” 

“ Of course sending messages after you have 
the code learned cannot be so bad, for you can take 
your own time,” Dick put in. “It is receiving 
them that would fuss me.” 

“ We’ll fix you up with a buzzer and let you and 
Walter practice later if you want a try.” 

“ Could you? ” asked Dick eagerly. 

“Sure! Moreover, there are phonograph rec¬ 
ords made on purpose to be used by beginners. 
Perhaps your father will get you some of those. 
It is a fine way to learn, training your ear to the 
sounds and giving you lots of practice.” 

“ What a bully scheme! ” 

“ It is a good proof of how one science can help 
another, isn’t it? ” observed Mrs. Crowninshield. 

“ I suppose transmitting is a great deal harder 
than receiving anyhow, isn’t it? ” pursued Dick. 

“ Well, of course there is more to it. In the 
rough it is merely the reverse of receiving; but in 
reality to project a message through the air re¬ 
quires a more elaborate outfit.” 

“ But you said our wireless would send as well 
as receive.” 

“ Oh, it will. It was made with both ends of 
the service in view. Your apparatus would first 
have to be adjusted and tuned until it was at the 
same frequency as the station with which you were 
talking. That you have to do anyhow, whether 
you are sending or receiving. And I told you, 


THE LAWS OF THE AIR 


215 

you remember, how to regulate that. Your an¬ 
tenna is connected through an adjustable induction 
coil, and moreover you have a small condenser 
which together with it forms a closed circuit. It 
is simple enough when you understand the prin¬ 
ciple to adjust the vibratory motion in the antenna 
by moving the connection. The frequency of the 
closed circuit can be adjusted, too. Tuning is 
nothing more than putting these two circuits into 
accord with the waves you receive. Your detector 
does a good part of the work for you, for it re¬ 
sponds to every oscillation set up in the receiver. 
When, however, you are transmitting a message, 
you must take care to cut out your receiver by 
turning on the switch. Never forget that. You 
won’t be likely to, either, when you are told why. 
You see it requires power to send out transmission 
waves and therefore to do it you have to employ a 
high-pressure current. Receiving, on the other 
hand, demands delicately adjusted instruments 
which are equipped to catch every faint, incoming 
wave. Should you let the strong charge of elec¬ 
tricity used for transmission pass through your 
fragile receiving apparatus you would ruin it in 
no time.” 

“ I can see that,” replied Dick. 

“ Grasp that notion and you have one big prin¬ 
ciple of the difference between sending messages 
and receiving them,” said Bob. “ Skill in learn¬ 
ing to take messages either in code or cipher comes 
with practice. The more you work at it the faster 
you can go. You have a keyboard all installed 


216 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

and the only thing standing between you and an 
expert operator is patience. Speed comes sooner 
than you think, too, if you practice persistently 
every day. As for the Morse code you press the 
key lever down quickly and instantly release it to 
make a dot. A dash is equal to three dots; the 
space between the parts of the same letters is equal 
to a dot; that between two letters to three dots; and 
between two words to five dots. You must train 
your ear until the span of these intervals becomes 
unmistakable. When you get some skill and are 
ready to try out what you can do, you will find 
that there are several ways of getting wider prac¬ 
tice. There are, for example, local clubs that 
broadcast in code and send messages limited in 
speed to an amateur’s capacity. Such centers are 
considerate enough to transmit at the rate of not 
more than five or ten words to the minute. It is 
persistence and a willingness to go slowly and 
carefully that win out in the end. A moderately 
delivered message that is without errors is worth 
a dozen fast, inaccurate ones; for when you blunder 
and have to go back and repeat, you not only waste 
your time and that of the man at the other end of 
the line but you annoy and usually confuse him. 
You will never gain anything if you are content 
with being a sloppy operator since above every¬ 
thing else radio messages must be correct. That 
is their chief value. Therefore, if after trying 
with all your might you find you cannot qualify as 
a top-notch, high-speed man be content to drop into 
the class below and be an accurate, slower operator. 


THE LAWS OF THE AIR 


217 

There are always certain things we do better than 
others. Speed may not be one of your gifts. That 
is no sign you have not other talents, however. 
Face the fact and go into the class where you be¬ 
long. You won’t get so nervous and fussed up, and 
by and by you may surprise yourself by finding 
that with time and experience the desired speed 
will come.” 

u I am not aiming to be a crackerjack like you,” 
grinned Dick. “ If I can take down and send any 
messages at all I shall feel pretty cocky.” 

“ You think that now,” returned Bob, ignoring 
the flattery contained in the observation. “ But by 
and by you will find yourself discontented and as 
crazy to make time as you are in an automobile. 
There is a fascination about it.” 

“ Doesn’t the Morse Continental bother you a 
bit?” inquired Mr. Crowninshield. 

“ Not a particle. In fact, it has come to be al¬ 
most as easy reading as straight English,” answered 
Bob. “ The thing that does fuss me sometimes 
though is to send and receive in cipher.” 

“ Mercy! Do they do that too? ” gasped Mrs. 
Crowninsliield. 

“ Certainly. Often both in time of war and 
times of peace confidential messages which it is not 
desirable all the world should know have to 
be transmitted. Sometimes these are government 
communications; sometimes business or personal 
ones. At any rate, their senders wish them kept 
private and hence they are sent in cipher. Many 
of them are queer enough, too, when they come in.” 


218 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“Can you understand them yourself?” asked 
Nancy. 

“ Certainly not. It is not intended that any one 
except the person for whom they are intended shall 
know what they mean.” 

“ But I should think since they make no sense 
you would wonder whether you had them right ” 
commented Dick. 

“ I do wonder sometimes,” admitted Bob hon¬ 
estly. “ When you get a sequence of queer words 
or combinations of letters you cannot help wonder¬ 
ing. However, there is not much chance for a 
mistake, either in the transmission or in the delivery 
of such messages, for the operator is always obliged 
to send them slower than he does ordinary stuff, 
spacing the letters or groups of letters with unusual 
care. Furthermore, code words are always re¬ 
peated once. This gives the man receiving them a 
chance to print the letters by hand rather than 
write them, a precaution that does much to prevent 
mistakes. The address and signature must also be 
very carefully transmitted. With such watchful¬ 
ness at each end of the line it would be only a 
colossally stupid person who would blunder.” 

“ But suppose the operator who is transmitting 
went faster than you could? ” murmured Walter. 

“ He doesn’t as a general rule. It isn’t wireless 
ethics. And even should he be a more skillful 
radio man he knows he would gain nothing by 
hustling the chap at the other end for he would 
only lose time by having to go back and repeat.” 


THE LAWS OF THE AIR 


219 

“ Is all the general transmission of messages 
given such care? ” inquired Mr. Crowninshield. 

“ Of course cipher communications are fussier,” 
Bob said. “ Nevertheless the rules are pretty strict 
for all messages. And since accuracy is the key¬ 
note of radio and to get it your outfit must be in 
Ai condition, every care must be taken to have 
strong, clear, and effective sending and receiving 
power. That means you must constantly clean 
your apparatus and tighten it up; test out your de¬ 
tector by the buzzer intended for the purpose and 
make sure that it is in sensitive condition; and 
assure yourself that every part of your set is OK. 
Moreover, an operator who is on duty listening in 
is expected to wear the double head receiver all the 
time, so no sound, however faint, may get by him. 
He must also see that his detector is adjusted to its 
greatest degree of sensibility and his tuner to the 
proper wave length. If your station happens to 
be near another, or if you are one of a group of 
ships and other vessels near yours are sending, you 
must watch out and either weaken the coupling of 
your detector or open your switch and cut it out 
altogether when those around you are using power¬ 
ful currents for transmission; else you will wreck 
this delicate part of your instrument.” 

“ Gee, but there are things to remember! ” ejacu¬ 
lated Dick. 

“Not so many, really, if you use ordinary 
brains,” Bob returned. “You just have to think, 
that is all. A few big principles hold throughout. 
The other dorits are simply to make your own 


220 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

work and the other fellow’s smoother; prevent mis¬ 
takes; do away with as much interference as pos¬ 
sible; and protect your outfit. For example, I 
found I could often lessen the interference by 
loosening the coupling of my receiving set after I 
had heard a call and reduce the sound to a point 
where it was just readable. You get your message 
all right but you do not get so much else with it. 
Then you can save wear and tear if you only run 
your generator while you are sending messages. 
That you cannot transmit at the hours reserved for 
naval radio stations to send out the time signals by 
which navigators set their chronometers, or when 
operators are broadcasting, goes without saying. 
Any dunce would know that.” 

“ I had no idea there were hours for sending 
out the time,” confessed Dick. 

“ Indeed there are. It is very important, too, 
that ships know the correct time to prevent dis¬ 
asters. There are shore stations whose sole duty 
it is to supply to ships the time and their location. 
Don’t you recall my mentioning such'coastal sta¬ 
tions? ” 

“ Oh, yes; I guess I do remember now,” returned 
Dick, a trifle confused. 

“ What happens if you call a station and nobody 
answers?” interrogated Nancy. “I have been 
meaning to ask. Do you just keep on calling as 
you do at the telephone? ” 

“ No, indeed,” was the instant reply. “ Should 
you do that you would cause no end of interference 
and make yourself a nuisance to everybody. The 


THE LAWS OF THE AIR 


221 


rule is that after you have called a station three 
times at two-minute intervals you must stop for a 
quarter of an hour before you call again. If you 
happened to be calling a fleet of ships it is desirable 
to alter your tune rather than keep repeating the 
summons in the same key. It saves time. Mer¬ 
chant ships and coast stations must, however, be 
called in the wave length definitely specified for 
their use.” 

“ Shipboard stations seem to have more rules 
than the others,” commented Dick. 

“ Not more rules but different ones,” Bob said. 
“ You see their nearness to other ships makes this 
imperative. Each ship has to take care not to 
knock out the apparatus of its neighbor by incon¬ 
siderate use of a high-power current; also it must 
not cause undue interference. In other words, a 
bevy of ships, like a group of persons, must be 
courteous to one another. If a ship within a ten- 
mile radius of another is receiving signals that are 
so faint that they are difficult to distinguish, a 
neighboring vessel should not complicate matters 
by trying to transmit a message until the other ship 
has received what was coming in. This rule makes 
for ordinary politeness, that is all.” 

“ Couldn’t the ship waiting to talk send a mes¬ 
sage in a different wave length? ” inquired Dick. 

“ Oh, yes; that would be quite possible, if the 
tune varied enough to make it perfectly distinct.” 

“But what about high-power stations?” de¬ 
manded Walter. “They handle important stuff 
and of course cannot keep stopping for other people 


222 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

to talk. Don’t their powerful currents damage the 
receiving sets in stations near them? I should 
think they might even injure their own.” 

“ High-power, or long-distance stations have still 
another problem to meet and they meet it in a dif¬ 
ferent way,” responded Bob. “ In order that the 
currents they are obliged to use shall not destroy 
detectors and other delicate receiving apparatus 
they carry on what are known as duplex operations. 
That is, the receiving station is constructed at some 
distance from the sending station — often several 
miles away—and the two parts of the service are 
performed independently by different antennae. 
In this way sending and receiving can be carried on 
at the same time in slightly varying wave lengths.” 

“ But how can they talk and act as one station if 
they are so far apart? ” questioned His Highness 
much puzzled. 

“ It is not as impossible as it seems. The oper¬ 
ator at the sending station has a small sending key 
connected by electricity with a relay at the receiv¬ 
ing station. By means of a lever and certain com¬ 
plex paraphernalia this key can be used as the send¬ 
ing key for the main apparatus. Thus the station 
operated by distant control carries on a duplex sys¬ 
tem of transmission so that both sending and re¬ 
ceiving stations are kept in touch with one 
another.” 

“That is clever!” interrupted Mr. Crownin- 
shield. 

“ A high-power station has to be ingeniously 
equipped,” responded Bob, “ for it does a great 


THE LAWS OF THE AIR 


223 

deal of business, rapid business and business that is 
important. In some stations so fast do the messages 
come in and so long are they that an automatic 
tape not unlike that seen at the stock exchange is 
used to make perforated records of the dots and 
dashes. Later this punctured slip can be run 
through a Morse writer and the message taken 
down at leisure by the operator. Or sometimes 
photographic or phonographic records are resorted 
to and these like the others can be reproduced at a 
slower rate of speed and interpreted by the 
operator.’’ 

“ I should like that and then I wouldn’t have 
to hurry,” murmured Nancy. 

“ It must be jolly to be an operator in a long¬ 
distance station,” mused Dick, “ where real things 
are going on.” 

“ Perhaps it is,” was Bob’s nonchalant answer. 
“ I fancy, though, that very vital government mes¬ 
sages go in cipher. Uncle Sam isn’t risking having 
his secrets published far and wide over the face of 
the whole earth. Although for that matter all 
radio messages are secret.” 

“ But how can they be if any and everybody can 
listen in? ” 

“ Well, on a high-power wave length probably 
ordinary persons would not be able to listen in. 
Their apparatus would not be equipped for it. 
Should a station be able to, however, during criti¬ 
cal periods, such as times of war, the government 
takes no chances and orders all but certain specified 
stations dismantled. That puts an end to intruders 


224 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

unless a spy has a hidden wireless somewhere; and 
if he has he takes an almighty risk with his neck, 
that is all I can say,” concluded Bob with a grin. 

“ But operators have tongues and can talk,” Mrs. 
Crowninshield suggested. “ Don’t they some¬ 
times? ” 

“ Usually they do not know what the message 
passing through their hands means,” Bob answered. 
“ But even should they contrive to study it out they 
would not dare repeat it because of the penalty 
entailed.” 

“ Penalty? ” 

The young operator nodded. 

“ You would not have to concern yourself much 
about blabbers if you heard what happens to them,” 
piped Walter, who suddenly found himself on 
ground which previous instruction had rendered 
familiar. “ It’s off with their heads! ” 

“ Not really! ” gasped the horrified Nancy. 

“ Oh, he does not mean literally,” the elder 
brother explained. “ But it is away with their 
license which is almost as disastrous a fate to a man 
who has planned to make his living by wireless. 
Nor is the loss of the license all that happens. In 
addition one is liable to a two-hundred-and-fifty- 
dollar fine or three years’ imprisonment.” 

“Jove! They do come down on you!” Dick 
averred. 

“ Ra -ther! You know, of course, that if you 
violate any clause of your radio agreement you may 
be fined one hundred dollars; and should an 


THE LAWS OF THE AIR 


225 

operator fake a distress call the fine is twenty-five 
hundred dollars, or five years in prison and per¬ 
haps both. Even the smallest fine one can get off 
with for such an offense is two years behind the 
bars. It makes you think twice before playing that 
little joke. The government is wise, too, to spread 
it on thick, for to fake an S O S which is given the 
right of way over every other signal would be a 
contemptible trick. Mild punishments like fines 
and imprisonments would be too good for the 
wretch who would so deliberately mislead people. 
Moreover a few such offenses would cause the im¬ 
portance of the call to be discredited so that in 
time nobody would be in a rush to pay attention 
to it.” 

u I didn’t realize an S O S so invariably had the 
right of way,” meditated Dick. “ Of course I 
knew it was the distress signal at sea.” 

“ S O S in the International Morse Code is the 
universal distress call adopted by the common con¬ 
sent of our civilized nations at the wireless conven¬ 
tion held at Berlin in 1906. Every radio station 
ashore or afloat is obliged to give it first place and 
do everything possible to further its demands. 
When a distress call is heard all ships and stations 
everywhere that hear it are in honor bound to stop 
whatever they may be doing and listen; nor must 
they try to talk with the ship herself unless she asks 
them to. Instead, after she has sent out her call 
for attention, which is equivalent to our Hello of 
the telephone, she gives her name; the name of the 


226 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 


station or ship she wishes to talk with; states what 
the matter is; and defines as nearly as she is able 
her position. This done she sends out a general call 
and if the station or ship she has asked aid from has 
not caught the signal and fails to answer her, any 
operator within hearing may do so. The instant he 
begins to talk with her, however, all the others 
listening in must remain silent. At last, when the 
message is delivered or the necessary conversation 
at an end, then the ship’s radio man sends out a 
broadcast to let everybody know that he has fin¬ 
ished so that all stations may resume their regular 
routine.” 

“ Some system! ” breathed Dick. 

“ I guess you would think there was someisystem 
if you were to see a book of radio rules,” returned 
Bob. “ I’ll show you mine some day. All the vari¬ 
ous shore stations have their many regulations, as I 
have told you before; shipboard stations have 
theirs; and even the amateurs are protected so that 
every class may get fair play and not bother his 
neighbor. Wireless stations, you see, are not mere 
toys. They have work to do and must be able to 
do it unhampered.” 

“ I’d like a glimpse of that manual,” suggested 
Dick. 

“ I’ll bring it round to-morrow,” Bob answered, 
glancing at his watch and rising. 

The others rose too. 

“ I suppose it would be no use to listen in for 
O’Connel again,” remarked Mr. Crowninshield. 


THE LAWS OF THE AIR 227 

“ I will if you like,” Bob responded. “ I doubt, 
though, if it would do any good.” 

“ No, I guess it wouldn’t. We shall just have to 
wait,” sighed the man. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


THE NET TIGHTENS 

When on the morrow no call of any kind came 
from O’Connel Mr. Crowninshield was, as his son 
expressed it, “ fit to be tied.” 

“ I can’t see why we do not hear something to¬ 
day,” fumed he. “ He can’t expect us to wait de¬ 
velopments forever. Are you sure you did not miss 
the signal, Bob.” 

“ I don’t see how I could have missed it,” replied 
the operator patiently. 

“ But he always does call, doesn’t he?” 

“ He has for the last few days.” 

“ Then why not to-day? ” 

“ I cannot imagine. Perhaps he couldn’t.” 

“ You don’t suppose anything has happened to 
Lola, do you? ” 

“ Who can tell?” 

“ You are right; it was a foolish question,” ad¬ 
mitted the financier, accepting the rebuke grace¬ 
fully. “ Still, I cannot help being anxious and 
wondering.*” 

“ Of course not.” 

“ If only that miserable inspector would turn up 
and you could get your license! It is absurd that 


THE NET TIGHTENS 


229 

you cannot send a message, a man of your ex¬ 
perience! ” 

“ I am as sorry about the delay as you are,” Bob 
answered. “ Perhaps I am more so. Nevertheless 
I am not going to break the rules. Besides, were 
we to call O’Connel, it might arouse suspicion and 
get him into trouble. It is far better to leave the 
calling to him.” 

“ But he hasn’t called.” 

“ Then there is some good reason, I’ll be bound. 
He knows what he is about when he says to await 
developments.” 

“ Maybe he does,” sighed the elder man. 
“ However, I am not much used to waiting. When 
I want a thing done, I want it done.” 

Bob smiled at the characteristic remark. 

“ You cannot whisk everything off like that,” ob¬ 
served he. “ Sometimes it is necessary-” 

“To wait? Yes, I suppose so,” put in Mr. 
Crowninshield. “ Well, I will hold my horses for 
one more day. But I warn you to-morrow I shall 
do something. I can’t be hanging around like this 
— not knowing anything or hearing anything.” 

“ It is hard,” Bob returned sympathetically. 

“ It is hard for one born in New York and ac¬ 
customed to seeing things hum,” asserted the owner 
of Surfside with a wry smile. “Well, we must 
try to forget it, that’s all. Come, get your books 
and let us go on with our radio lesson from the 
point where we left it yesterday. The rest of them 
are waiting and there seems to be nothing better 
that we can do.” 


230 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

Fortunately Bob was not sensitive enough to be 
hurt by the thrust. 

“ I’ll be right along,” agreed he, “ as soon as I 
have locked up here.” 

On reaching the veranda he found his class as¬ 
sembled and the first comment to reach his ears 
was: 

“ No news from O’Connel, eh? ” 

“ No, Dick.” 

“ What in thunder do you suppose has become 
of him? ” 

Bob put his finger to his lips and taking the hint 
the boy abandoned the subject, inquiring instead: 

“ Isn’t it a bore to have to listen in at just such a 
time every day whether it is convenient or not— I 
mean when you are in charge of a station.” 

“ Sometimes it is,” Bob responded. “ Still, it is 
your job and you expect to put it first and fit your 
own affairs in around it. Besides, you get used to 
the regularity of the hours and soon do not notice 
the monotony of the rules. You can readily under¬ 
stand why, at all official radio stations, somebody 
must always be on the watch for S O S calls. On 
shipboard there are three classes of wireless sta¬ 
tions : those having continual service with an 
operator who always has his ear to the receiver 
while the ship is in motion; those where the office 
is open only at stated hours and an operator listen¬ 
ing merely for a limited time; and those whose 
operators have no fixed time beyond listening in 
the first ten minutes of each hour.” 


THE NET TIGHTENS 


231 

“ The ship decides which kind of station it will 
have, I suppose/’ Nancy remarked. 

“ Indeed it doesn’t,” Bob contradicted, with a 
shake of his head. “ The government saves the 
vessel that trouble. It defines exactly the sort of 
station when it issues the license. Uncle Sam also 
bestows on each of these stations a name or combi¬ 
nation of letters by which it shall be known and 
under which it is officially listed. Each country 
has a prescribed number of such letters allotted for 
its use at the International Convention at Berne, 
and our nation is authorized to use groups begin¬ 
ning with N and W; also triple groups of KIA to 
KZZ. You will find all these call letters in a book 
that contains the wireless telegraph stations of the 
world, a volume issued by the international publi¬ 
cation office at Berne.” 

“ Can any one get one? ” inquired Walter. 

“ Certainly, if he has the price,” smiled the older 
brother. “ I guess you do not need one, though. 
A local call book would answer most purposes. It 
would hardly be necessary for you to call any for¬ 
eign offices, and I even doubt if you would need to 
summon Sayville, Tuckerton, New Brunswick, 
Marion, or Annapolis.” 

“Those are our trans-Atlantic stations, aren’t 
they? ” asked Dick. 

“ Some of them,” Bob said. “ We have others, 
though, that can talk with Europe. There is one at 
San Diego; Pearl Harbor in Hawaii; and Cavite 
in the Philippines. There are also Marconi sta¬ 
tions at Kahuka and Bolinas. In addition to these, 


232 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

the government has a number of high-power sta¬ 
tions scattered throughout the country. Arlington, 
Virginia-” 

“ Sends out the time,” put in Walter with dis¬ 
concerting promptness. 

“ It sure does, sonny.” 

“ How many foreign countries can talk with 
us? ” inquired Nancy. 

“ A short time ago there were eight that could 
talk direct. One is at Funabashi, Japan; one at 
Carnarvon, Wales; two in France, one at Nantes 
and one at Lyons; Rome, Italy, has one; Germany 
has one at Nauen and one at Eilvese, Hanover; and 
Norway has one at Stavanger. Then in Canada 
there are two transatlantic stations.” 

“ Glace Bay! ” piped the incorrigible Walter. 

Bob patted his head with a mock fatherly ges¬ 
ture. 

“ Very good, son,” said he, at which everybody 
laughed. 

“ These stations,” he went on, “ are all equipped 
with very high power, varying in wave length any¬ 
where from 17,600 to 6,000 meters. Most of our 
stations are pretty powerful, anyway. Pearl Har¬ 
bor, for instance, has a 13,000 wave length; Cavite 
12,000; Sayville, 11,600; Tuckerton, owned by a 
French company, about 8,700; New Brunswick, 
New Jersey, 13,600; Marion, Massachusetts, 
14,400; and Annapolis, 17,600. Only a few for¬ 
eign stations can match these in range. Carnarvon 
has two wave lengths: 14,000 and 11,500; Lyons, 


THE NET TIGHTENS 


233 

15,500; Nantes, 10,000; Rome, 11,500; Nauen, 
12,550; Eilvese (Hanover), 15,000 and 9,600; and 
Stavanger, Norway, 9,600. There are many, how¬ 
ever, that vary from 7,000 to 4,000 and can transmit 
messages by relaying them.” 

“ I wish my set could send farther,” Dick mur¬ 
mured regretfully. 

“ It sends as far as the law allows. We must 
therefore abide by Uncle Sam’s judgment and be 
content. The scale is very carefully planned and 
the classifications made most intelligently, I think. 
Amateurs are limited to about a 200-meter wave 
length; low-power stations come next and are 
grouped under 1,600 meters. Of these the 750 wave 
is reserved for government stations such as radio 
compass stations, etc.; 600 meters is the commercial 
tune for large merchant ships; 476 that of sub¬ 
marines, aircraft, and small war vessels; and 300 
meters is the commercial tune for small vessels. 
After that we pass into the higher group, all of 
which come under the head of medium-power sta¬ 
tions. These range from 4,000 to 1,800 meters and 
first on the list are the government ships which 
have continuous waves and a length of from 3,000 
to 4,000 meters. Following them come the experi¬ 
mental and miscellaneous stations with a 3,000 to 
2,000-meter range; and after them the 1,800-meter 
class which is the commercial tune for continuous 
waves.” 

“ And the high-power stations are the last, I sup¬ 
pose,” put in Dick. 


234 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“Yes, those designed for trans-oceanic service. 
These range from 20,000 to 6,000 meters. The dis¬ 
tinctions are, you see, quite positively made and 
everybody must keep within his assigned pigeon¬ 
hole.” 

“ I reckon I’ll keep in mine,” announced Dick. 

“ I should advise it if you want smooth sailing,” 

retorted Bob. “You will hardly-” but the 

sentence was never finished for a maid approached 
Mr. Crowninshield at the moment and whispered: 

“ The telephone, sir; New York is speaking.” 

“ New York, Dad! ” exclaimed Dick excitedly. 
“ It may be Lyman or Dacie.” 

“ More likely it is the office,” replied his mother. 

“ Some business matter, I fancy,” said Mr. 
Crowninshield as he rose. “ I’m sorry to interrupt 
the lesson.” 

“ I was just about through, sir.” 

“ I’ll be back in a moment probably.” 

“ Poor father always has telephone calls,” la¬ 
mented Nancy sympathetically. “ If he ever starts 
out to play golf somebody is sure to want him. 
Sometimes I wish that New York office was in the 
bottom of the sea.” 

“ I guess you’d have precious little bread and 
butter if it was,” announced Dick with brotherly 
sarcasm. 

“ Certainly you wouldn’t be able to provide me 
with any,” Nancy flashed back with a teasing laugh. 

“ Children! ” interposed Mrs. Crowninshield. 

“Here’s Dad! Well, Pater, what was it?” 


THE NET TIGHTENS 


235 

asked Dick. Then on observing his father was un- 
wontedly excited he repeated, “ What’s up, Dad? ” 

“ It was Lyman,” Mr. Crowninshield answered. 
“The New York police have run down two men 
and Mr. Lyman wants Bob to come over and see if 
he can identify either of them as the one who kid¬ 
naped Lola.” 

“ You could identify him, couldn’t you, Bob? ” 
Walter put in. 

“ Of course I could. Didn’t the chap come into 
the station to get water for his machine? ” was the 
instant reply. “ I talked with him quite a bit while 
he was fixing up his engine. He seemed in a 
powerful rush to be off and wasn’t overgracious.” 

“ But could Bob leave now, Archibald? ” ques¬ 
tioned his wife. “ Isn’t there the possibility of 
news from Mr. O’Connel? ” 

“ Jove! I had forgotten that.” 

“ Maybe O’Connel won’t call; he didn’t to-day, 
you know,” Nancy said. 

“ It seems to me Bob ought to go and land those 
chaps if there is a chance of doing it,” Dick de¬ 
clared. “ He would not need to be gone more than 
one night, would he? ” 

“ No. Nevertheless, he would miss the morning 
wireless,” returned Mr. Crowninshield. “ Should 
there be important news we should not get it.” 

“ It is a pity you boys can’t take a message,” 
Nancy remarked, turning toward her brother and 
Walter. “ If you only had your Morse code 
learned you might be quite some good to us now.” 

“ I wish I had whooped up on it faster,” be- 


236 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

wailed Dick, with engaging candor. “ I’m an 
awful rotter — plain lazy, I guess.” 

“ Well, I don’t know but we’d better let Bob go, 
all things considered,” observed Mr. Crownin- 
shield, who had been quietly thinking the matter 
over. 

“ I say Bob goes, too,” reiterated Dick. “ It is 
worth something to put such fellows as those dog 
thieves behind the bars.” 

“ You can connect with the Fall River boat or 
one passing through the Canal and be in New 
York in the morning, Bob,” the elder man asserted. 
“ Lyman will meet you, hustle things along, and 
send you home on the noon train. With Dick’s 
racing car to pick you up somewhere along the line 
there is no reason why we should not have you back 
here before another morning. You’ve no time to 
spare, though, for lingering and discussing wire¬ 
less and its wonders. Trot along and pack up your 
duds and get some luncheon. I’ll call up Wheeler 
and have him ready to carry you to the train. Do 
not bother your head about connections; I will look 
up everything and tell you exactly what to do.” 

In a flurry of anticipation off hastened Bob. 

“ Gee! Isn’t it the limit that we haven’t brains 
enough to get O’Connel?” murmured Dick to 
Walter in a disgusted whisper. “ I ought to have 
duffed in harder on the blamed code. But I 
thought there was no hurry. We seemed to have 
all summer to learn it.” 

“ Maybe he won’t call,” His Highness suggested 
hopefully. 


THE NET TIGHTENS 237 

“ I hope to blazes he doesn’t,” was the retort. 
“ I’d feel cheap as dirt to have that ticker go click¬ 
ing out a message and I not be able to get a word 
of it.” 


CHAPTER XIX 


WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH 

With Bob gone and radio lessons suspended the 
following morning seemed to both Dick and 
Walter an unwontedly quiet one. Moreover with 
a scorching sun high in the heaven, no breeze, and 
a dead low tide most of the activities to which the 
boys might have resorted were out of the question. 

“ Think of the sailing breeze we’ve seen blowing 
lots of mornings when we couldn’t go out,” grum¬ 
bled Dick. “ Isn’t it infernal luck? ” 

“ Why don’t you take your car and go for a spin,” 
Nancy suggested. 

“ Wheeler has it, silly. He’s meeting Bob.” 

“ I couldn’t go motoring anyway,” put in Wal¬ 
ter. “ I’ve got the dogs to chase round.” 

“ You’re not going out with them now,” objected 
Dick. 

“ Not quite yet. I had them out before break¬ 
fast.” 

“ What do you say we go over and fool round 
with the radio a while? ” Dick yawned. “ We’ve 
nothing better to do.” 

“ All right. We can at least listen in for a spell. 
We’ve got that far.” 

“ You boys better not go getting that wireless all 


WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH 239 

out of order while Bob is away,” cautioned Nancy. 
“ He’d be ripping mad to get home and find it out 
of commission. Father wouldn’t like it, either.” 

“ Oh, we’re not going to hurt the precious radio,” 
sniffed Dick. “ Don’t you think we know any¬ 
thing? ” 

“ Not much,” fluted Nancy as she flounced away. 

“ At least she does not flatter us,” grinned His 
Highness, quite unruffled by the girl’s frankness. 

“ Oh, sisters never think a fellow knows any¬ 
thing, especially when they’re older,” Dick grum¬ 
bled, as he unlocked the door of the low building 
and met the blast of close, stifling air that came out. 
“ Scott! The place is like an oven, isn’t it? Open 
a window, can’t you? ” he continued. 

“Sure! There is some heat, I’ll say. Just as 
well we dropped round if only to air the place 
out,” Walter replied. 

Together they switched on the current, regulated 
amplifier, detector, and tuner, and each with a 
head receiver tight to his ears sat down. 

“ Whee, but it is thick, to-day! ” shouted Dick. 
“ Run the tune up, kid, and see if we get anything.” 

“ It is always bad a day like this,” called Walter. 
“ Besides, everybody seems to be butting in in the 
morning. Infernal, isn’t it? ” 

“ Let her go up to O’Connel’s pitch. It can’t do 
any harm.” 

“ It isn’t time for him to call, is it? ” 

“ Pretty near.” 

“ But what good would it do even if we did get 
his signal? ” 


2 4 o WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ We should at least know he had something to 
say to us.” 

“ I should consider that a negative satisfaction,” 
Walter replied. “ It would just be an aggravation. 
However, here she goes! As you say, it can harm 
nobody to get the right meter.” 

“ There’s that old commercial station up the 
Cape,” announced Dick, presently. “ That fellow 
is always on the job at this hour.” 

“ Probably he has to be, poor soul,” Walter re¬ 
turned. “ We’ll get rid of him in a minute. What 
was that? ” 

“ It is some one on our line. That’s the Siren's 
call. It’s O’Connell Jove! What are you do¬ 
ing, man? What are you going to do?” asked 
Dick excitedly as he saw Walter’s hand go out. 

“Paper! Pencil! Hurry, can’t you?” gasped 
Walter. 

“ Do you mean-” 

“ Let’s both take it down in dots and dashes. 
Between us we may be able to make some sense out 
of it afterward. Quick! ” 

Clearly and evenly the message ticked itself off. 
Then there was silence. 

“Get any of it?” Walter demanded, breath¬ 
lessly tossing the receiver aside and shutting off the 
current. 

“ About two words. He went so fast- Did 

you get anything? ” 

“Oh, I’ve got something; but whether it will 
make any sense remains to be seen,” said His High¬ 
ness eagerly. “ Where is the key! Toss it over.” 




Clearly and evenly the message ticked itself off. 
Then there was silence. Page 240. 










WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH 241 

“ Here we go. Dot, dash,-” 

“ That’s the letter A, you squarehead! I know 
what that first part is; it is always the same and we 
needn’t fuss to translate it. Aboard yacht Siren. 
I don’t care, either, where she is. What we want 
to get at is what she wants to say.” 

“ But how can we tell where all that stuff leaves 
off?” 

“ I mean to tell,” declared Walter with determi¬ 
nation. 

“ But there is punctuation and other rubbish 
mixed in with the letters.” 

“ No matter. Have a little patience, man! ” 

Nevertheless, in spite of all the patience and per¬ 
severance the boys could muster thejmagic message 
remained an enigma and at the end of an hour both 
were obliged to admit themselves beaten. 

“ It is worse than getting no message at all,” la¬ 
mented Walter. 

“ It certainly does not do us much good,” as¬ 
sented Dick. 

“ Do you suppose your father knows anything 
about the Morse code? ” 

“ Dad? Good heavens, no! Still we might take 
the thing up to the house and show it to him.” 

“ I don’t imagine it is right, do you? ” speculated 
Walter. “ No doubt we missed some of it or made 
mistakes. Still, what we contrived to write agrees 
fairly well, so some of it must be correct. Let’s 
take it to your father. What do you say? ” 

“ I feel like such a boob not to be able to make it 


242 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

out,” Dick answered with evident reluctance at 
confessing himself floored. 

“ But we’ll have to tell him O’Connel called. 
We’ve got to do that anyhow; so he may as well 
know the rest of it,” Walter persisted. 

“ All right. We’ll hunt him up. I warn you, 
though, that he will josh us most unmercifully. 
He’ll pitch into me, too, and ask me why I haven’t 
learned my Morse International before this. See 
if he doesn’t.” 

“ It is one thing to learn the code out of a book 
and quite another to be smart enough to read it or 
take it down,” Walter maintained stoutly. “No¬ 
body ought to expect you to be able to get a mes¬ 
sage the way Bob does. Why, he has been at the 
job years! ” 

“ I know he has,” Dick responded, slightly com¬ 
forted. “ Still, Dad will rag me, just the same. 
See if he doesn’t! ” 

Locking the door and pausing to gain courage 
they set out over the lawn. Then suddenly, mid¬ 
way across the grass, His Highness came to a stop. 

“Mr. Burns!” he cried, wheeling round. 
“Why didn’t I think of him before?” 

“ What on earth are you talking about? ” asked 
Dick, astounded by his companion’s strange con¬ 
duct. 

“ Mr. Burns! ” repeated Walter. “ Come along. 
Can’t one of the chauffeurs take us down there? ” 

“ For mercy’s sake who is Mr. Burns, and why 
do you want to go and see him hot off the bat? ” 

“ Mr. Burns, the telegraph operator,” Walter 


WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH 243 

contrived to stammer. “ He must know Morse 
International. He has to know both the Morse 
American which telegraph operators use on land, 
and the other code, I’m pretty sure.” 

“ But maybe what we’ve got down doesn’t make 
sense,” objected Dick. “ You’ve a husky nerve to 
go toting that scrawl of ours to a professional.” 

“ I don’t care,” grinned Walter. “ I’m not 
afraid of Mr. Burns. He’s driven me out of the 
station too many times when I was a kid. I will 
own, however, that I have more respect for him 
since I’ve learned what it means to run a tele¬ 
graph.” 

“ He may drive you out of the station this time,” 
Dick ventured with a grimace. 

“ I’ll bet he won’t,” was the sanguine response. 
“We’ve made it up since then. I’ve even helped 
old Burnsie shovel his snow now and then. He’ll 
do a good turn for me, I’ll bet.” 

“ Come on then, if you are so sure of it,” Dick 
answered, striding toward the garage. 

“ You’re sure your father won’t mind our taking 
the car? ” 

“ He doesn’t want it this morning. He is going 
to hang round and see if Bob calls him from New 
York. Besides, he said it was too hot to motor. 
Will Burns be at the station now? ” 

“ He will if a train is due,” announced Walter. 
“ If the office is locked we can chase him to his 
house.” 

“All right! This is your party, remember,” 
Dick said a trifle wickedly. It was evident he had 


244 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

no faith in the expedition. Notwithstanding his 
skepticisms, however, he ordered out the car and 
he and Walter sped away on their errand. 

“ It is time for a train,” announced Walter in an 
undertone, as they neared the station. “ See, there 
are people waiting. It is the noon train from 
Boston.” 

“ Burns will be too busy then to bother his head 
over fake messages, I guess,” sniffed Dick. 

“ Maybe not. At least we can try him,” was 
His Highness’s optimistic assertion. “ Hi, Mr. 
Burns! ” The lad was out of the car and hastening 
along in the wake of a much sunburned station 
agent in blue denim overalls. 

“ Wal, if it ain’t Walter King! What you after, 
young one? I hear you’ve become the proprietor 
of Surfside — bought out the whole darn place for 
yourself.” 

“ I did buy it but I’m going to sell it again. It’s 
too small. I can’t get room enough to stretch up 
there,” came impishly from the lad on the plat¬ 
form. 

“Show! You don’t say!” drawled Mr. Burns 
with obvious relish of the joke. “ Well, it ain’t 
wise to be cramped. Maybe you wouldn’t get your 
growth if you were.” 

He cast a glance toward the short, thick-set 
figure behind him. 

“ I say, Mr. Burns,” burst out Walter, “ are you 
terribly busy? I’ve got something I want to show 
you.” 

“ What is it? ” demanded the man, halting and 


WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH 245 

holding suspended in his hand a cerulean blue egg 
case. 

“ I don’t know what it is — that’s just the 
trouble,” answered Walter mysteriously. 

“ What you up to anyhow?” demanded Mr. 
Burns suspiciously. 

Walter thrust forth the sheet of paper he had 
drawn from his pocket. 

In his rough, grimy hand the telegraph operator 
took it. 

“ Where did you get this?” demanded he, 
glancing sharply over the top of his spectacles. 

“ Why, we have a wireless up at Surfside and 
this thing — or something like it that we didn’t 
know enough to write down, came this morning.” 

“ But I heard your brother Bob was up there.” 

“ He had to go to New York yesterday.” 

“And left you to tend the tape, did he?” 
grinned the old man. 

“ Not much. He knows I’d be a duffer at the 
job,” affirmed Walter. 

“ Mebbe you ain’t as much of a duffer as you 
think. You managed to get this down on paper.” 

“We managed to together — Dick and I,” ex¬ 
plained Walter. “ I don’t suppose, though, we got 
it anywhere near straight. Does it make any sense 
at all?” 

“ Sure it makes sense!” announced Mr. Burns 
with a vim that quite took Walter’s breath away. 
“ There’s queer spots in it here and there — a few 
letters that ain’t needed, perhaps. Still, you can 
omit ’em since they serve no particular purpose.” 


246 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ But what is the message? What does it say? ” 
clamored Walter all impatience. 

“ Well, it ain’t so thrillin’ you need to go into a 
thousand pieces over it,” commented the Cape 
Codder drylj'. “ Some friend of Mr. Crownin- 
shield’s ’pears to be cornin’ down here on the after¬ 
noon train bringin’ with him his wife—either 
his wife or daughter.” 

“ What! ” Walter ejaculated weakly. 

“That’s what he says,” continued Mr. Burns, 
calmly rereading the document he held. “ Evi¬ 
dently some relation — or at least a person who 
feels he has the right to boss, for he says he wants 
to be met at the train.” 

“ Did I get the name? ” 

“Yes, that’s here. I may’s well read you the 
whole thing with the exception of the extra touches 
you’ve added.” 

“ I wish to goodness you would.” 

“ ’Tain’t nothin’ interestin’, as I said before,” 
insisted Mr. Burns, readjusting his spectacles. 
“Coming on afternoon train and bringing Lola. 

Meet me, O’Con - ” Where in thunder you 

goin’?” The operator gazed in amazement as a 
pair of chubby legs vanished up the platform. 

“ That’s all right, Mr. Burns! I don’t want the 
paper back. You can keep it to remember me by. 
Thanks! ” Then to Dick he shouted as he sprang 
into the car: 

“ We’re off for home fast as we can make it, old 
man! Such news! Your father will be crazy! 
Wheel Hurrah!” 


WALTER STEPS INTO THE BREACH 247 

“ If it is all the same to you,” observed Dick 
with scorching sarcasm, “ it would be pleasant to 
know the import of the message I took down.” 

“ You took down — well I like that! You took 
down! Why, man, you could not even read it 
yourself! It is the message I took down, my son.” 

“ We took down,” corrected Dick. 

They both laughed. 

“ O’Conners coming this afternoon! What do 
you say to that? ” 

“ Great Scott! But what-” 

“ He’s bringing his wife or daughter,” con¬ 
tinued Walter with a wicked twinkle in his eye. 

“ What? ” exclaimed his bewildered listener. 

“ Oh, this is rich! Rich! ” continued His High¬ 
ness with a paroxysm of laughter. “Wait until 
we tell your father! My soul and body! I’m sick 
laughing! ” 

“ You might tell me the joke.” 

“ I can’t— I can’t! ” roared the boy. “ It is too 
good! ” 

“And — and what about Lola?” stammered 
Dick. 

“ Why, you see Burns thought — my, but it’s 
rich! Ha, ha! Burns understood that — oh, it’s a 
scream!” and with that Dick was forced to be 
content. 


CHAPTER XX 


THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS 

When Walter and Dick returned to Surfside 
with their tidings Mr. Crowninshield’s satisfac¬ 
tion and delight could hardly be expressed. How 
he laughed at Burns’s interpretation of O’Connel’s 
message! And how Dick laughed when at last the 
joke was imparted to him! 

“ Well, you two boys have been almighty clever 
between you,” commented the elder man. “ I 
would not have credited either of you with so 
many brains. To think of your getting that radio 
call! It is marvelous. And then to take it to 
Burns! That was a master stroke. The idea would 
never have entered my head. But what puzzles 
me is the message itself. Do you suppose O’Con- 
nel has kidnaped Lola; or how has he got pos¬ 
session of her? And how has he contrived to es¬ 
cape from the yacht without being held up? I 
don’t understand it at all. It isn’t likely Daly has 
let him walk off unmolested with the dog. The 
thing is more than I can fathom.” 

“ Perhaps Mr. Daly has relented and is sending 
Lola back,” suggested Walter. 

“ Not on your life, youngster! You don’t know 
Daly,” was the instant reply. “ He would never 


THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS 249 

admit himself beaten and give up that pup. More¬ 
over the affair has cost him too much money, risk 
and trouble for him to abandon his scheme. If he 
wanted Lola bad enough to hire somebody to steal 
her he still wants her, mark my word! No, there 
is something behind all this that we haven’t 
reached. O’Connel has made off with the dog 
somehow. Just how I am at a loss to tell. We 
shall have to wait until he himself comes and en¬ 
lightens us.” 

“Anything heard from Bob?” questioned 
Walter. 

“Yes, I’ve had a wire. They’ve got the men 
they were after all right and he will be back to¬ 
night.” 

“ What did he say about it? ” asked Dick 
eagerly. 

“ Nothing. You cannot tell an entire story in a 
telegram, you know. But he has accomplished 
what he went for. I fancy he always does,” added 
the master of the estate with a smile. 

“ Generally, sir,” nodded Walter proudly. 

Mr. Crowninshield took a turn or two across 
the room. 

“ I mean to keep Bob with us this winter if I can 
prevail upon him to stay,” remarked the financier 
presently. “ He is too able a chap to lose sight of. 
I can find a big paying berth for him in New York 
and if he will take it, your mother won’t have to 
worry any further about money affairs. And if 
you, sonny, make good and do as well as your 
brother ” — he patted Walter’s shoulder, “ I’ll do 


250 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

the same for you some day. You have done well 
this summer. Finish up your school work and 
then we’ll see.” 

“ You are very kind, Mr. Crowninshield,” the 
boy stammered. 

“ Not a bit. We all ought to give the chap who 
is willing to climb a hand up the ladder. What 
are we in the world for? ” 

“ I know my mother will be-” 

“There, there!” interrupted the great man. 
“ Your mother has two fine sons that she may well 
be proud of. She has had a little hard sledding 
to get them on their feet, that’s all. Now it is their 
turn to lift the burden and repay her. I am sim¬ 
ply going to see that they get the chance to do it. 
The rest I feel certain I can leave to them.” 

“We do want to help mother,” Walter replied 
with sincerity. 

“ I know you do; both of you have proved it this 
summer. From now on I intend your mother 
shall have no anxiety about her finances. We’ll put 
her where she will be perfectly independent of 
those uncles of yours, and of summer boarders as 
well.” 

The lip of His Highness trembled and he could 
not speak. 

“ Some day I expect Dick and Nancy will be 
looking out for their mother and me just this way,” 
continued Mr. Crowninshield half humorously. 
€t There will be Lola to support, too.” 

Dick burst into a peal of laughter. 

“ You will have to cut out indulging in so many 


THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS 251 

detectives if I’m to pay the bills, Dad,” answered 
he. 

“ Oh, you must not deprive me of my little luxu¬ 
ries,” returned his father. “ One must have some 
amusement, remember.” 

“ I’m afraid you will have to choose a cheaper 
one then.” 

“ I’ll think it over. If, however, I discover you 
cannot maintain me and my trifling pleasures I 
may abandon you and turn to Walter to support 
me in my old age.” 

Lighting a cigar he strolled away. 

The boys ambled toward the boathouse. There 
was still three hours before the Boston train, 
bringing O’Connel, would arrive. In the mean¬ 
time they indulged in a swim; took the dogs for a 
run; had luncheon; paddled round the bay in 
Dick’s canoe; and did everything they could think 
of to hurry the moments along. 

And when the car bearing Mr. Crowninshield 
and O’Connel did actually roll into the drive what 
a state of excitement they were in! 

Yes, there was Lola — there was no contesting 
that! She was a weak, wretched little dog but it 
was she. 

“ However did you manage it, Mr. O’Connel? ” 
cried Mrs. Crowninshield who had come racing 
down the steps and gathered her favorite into her 
arms. 

Breathlessly the group clustered about the wee 
puppy. 

“ Well, the first thing I did was to convince 


252 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

myself the dog aboard the yacht was really the 
one we were after. One day when the party went 
ashore I hunted up the supposed Trixie and called 
her by her real name. You should have seen her 
prick up her ears, poor little mite! I had her 
licking my hand inside a minute. From that in¬ 
stant I began to scheme. I found I couldn’t send 
you many radio calls because they watched me too 
closely. I think the mate suspected something — 
just what, I could not make out, for I don’t think 
he was in the secret of the dog’s capture. Any¬ 
way, I decided to steer clear of the wireless and 
trust to luck. At last my chance came. Some 
equipment was needed and it was decided I was 
to be put ashore and get it. By this time Lola, 
who for the last few days had refused to eat, had 
begun to show decidedly alarming symptoms. I 
diagnosed the case as plain homesickness and pri¬ 
vately resolved to get her off the yacht if it was a 
possible thing; but Mr. Daly thought she had 
distemper or something and was mightily cut up. 
He didn’t want the animal to die on his hands 
after all he had gone through to get her. Alto¬ 
gether he began to be pretty uneasy and you may 
be sure I did my part to make him so. Every 
chance I got I would remark how sick his dog 
seemed. Of course I wasn’t supposed to know it 
wasn’t one he had had for years. I kept harping 
on the puppie’s health until I had him fussed to 
death. At last he said: ‘ I don’t know but what 
you are right about Trixie, O’Connel. If they 
are going to put you ashore at Boston to buy sup- 


THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS 253 

plies, why wouldn’t it be a good plan for you to 
take the dog to the animal hospital there? You 
could leave her and later we could go back and 
get her. She does seem ailing, and I haven’t the 
ghost of an idea what to do with a sick dog. Be¬ 
sides, she is a nuisance on the yacht if she must be 
catered to all the time.’ Well, as you can imagine, 
I jumped at the chance although I took every 
pains not to let him suspect I did. I told him 
that of course if he wanted me to take the dog I 
should be glad to do it. I liked animals and also 
I wished to accommodate him. There was no 
denying, however, that to carry Lola with me 
would delay me in town. Still, if he desired it I 
would do my best to see that she was taken where 
she would get well ” 

The big fellow paused and laughed heartily. 

“ I’ve kept that promise, too,” grinned he. “ I 
have sent a note back to the Siren recalling the 
phrase to Mr. Daly, and telling him that having 
decided Lola would recover more completely^ if 
placed under the protection of her rightful owners 
I was taking her back there.” 

“ I’d like to see his face when he gets that let¬ 
ter! ” said Mr. Crowninshield, rubbing his hands. 

“ So should I,” roared O’Connel, his broad 
shoulders shaking. 

“ But won’t he-” Mrs. Crowninshield 

looked anxious. 

“ Won’t he what, my dear? ” inquired her hus¬ 
band. 


254 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

“ Aren’t you afraid he will be angry and-” 

she held the wee dog closer in her arms. 

“ He will be angry all right,” agreed O’Connel. 
“ But you need have no fears that he will do any¬ 
thing more, ma’am. He is on too dangerous 
ground. In the first place he cannot accuse me of 
appropriating his dog for I can answer him that 
it was stolen in the first place. And he cannot 
say I deserted his ship for all is fair in love and 
war, you know. No, Daly is a good sport and he 
will instantly understand that he has been beaten. 
We have been one too many for him, that is all. 
Moreover, he won’t be feeling any too comfortable 
for he is still uncertain as to what Mr. Crownin- 
shield may be planning to do with him. Oh, Daly 
won’t stir up trouble. You can trust him for that. 
On the contrary he probably will clear out of 
reach of any possible storm. It is his only course 
and he will be canny enough to take it.” 

“ But you are not going to let him go scott free, 
are you Dad?” demanded Dick. 

“ Oh, I don’t know. What’s the use of fighting 
a skunk like that? We have our dog back and 
Daly must acknowledge that he has been beaten. 
That is about all I want. He won’t try anything 
more for I have a whip-lash over him as he is well 
aware. Any time I can prosecute him for receiv¬ 
ing stolen goods and being an accomplice in a 
robbery. With the evidence I have such a case 
would go overwhelmingly against him should it 
reach the courts. He is not for bringing that issue 
to a head, you may rest assured of that.” 



THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS 255 

“ But you do mean to jail the men who actually 
took Lola, Father,” put in Nancy. “ If you do 
that, won’t the whole affair have to be aired and 
Mr. Daly dragged into the trial?” 

Her father did not answer immediately and be¬ 
fore he had framed his reply wheels were heard 
and Wheeler, driving Dick’s racing car, drew up 
at the steps. 

“ It’s Bob, as I live! ” shouted Walter. “ Hello, 
Bobbie! Hello, old chap! ” 

“Welcome home, Bob!” called Mr. Crownin- 
shield going forward to meet the lad. 

“We have a surprise for you, Bob!” called 
Nancy. “Guess who’s here? ” 

“ I can’t,” smiled the wireless man coming up to 
the piazza and shaking hands all round. Then 
his eye lighted on O’Connel. 

“ My word! How did you get here, old top? 
Fired from your job? ” 

For answer Mrs. Crowninshield held up Lola. 

“The pup herself! Well, well! What’s been 
happening in my absence, anyhow?” 

“ I don’t wonder you want to know,” cried 
Nancy above the general clamor. 

“ Hush! Do stop everybody. You are making 
a far worse noise than ever came through that 
radiophone.” 

“ First let’s have Bob’s story. We haven’t heard 
that yet,” Mr. Crowninshield said. “Tell us 
what happened to you in New York, my boy.” 

Bob dropped into a chair. 

“ Well, as I wired you, Dacie and Lyman have 


256 WALTER AND THE WIRELESS 

landed your men. I recognized the fellow who 
came to Seaver Bay for water the instant I set eyes 
on him. He recognized me, too, and knew the 
game was up. It seems, though, that he and his 
pal are wanted in California on a prior charge. 
A big burglary, I think it is. Anyway, they have 
got to be taken out there and tried first. In the 
meantime our complaint can be lodged against 
them and-” 

“ Aren’t we to have the fun of jailing them after 
all?” asked Dick in dismay. 

“They will be jailed, never fear,” returned 
Bob. “ They will get a stiff sentence, too, I 
imagine.” 

Mr. Crowninshield was silent and his wife now 
glanced toward him. 

“Are you disappointed, Archibald?” inquired 
she. 

“ I guess,” responded he slowly, “ that is a good 
way out of our dilemma. The villains will be 
carried far away from this vicinity and will with¬ 
out doubt get all that’s coming to them. What 
more can we ask? We’ve won the game—taken 
every trick and made a clean sweep of the whole 
business. Now that I’ve got Lola home I don’t 
much care about the rest of it. What do you say 
we let well enough alone and drop it? ” 

“ I should say that with every day of your life 
you were growing wiser, my dear,” answered his 
wife softly. 


FINIS. 



NON‘REFER? 



daWVAO • OIS 















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PAUL AND THE 
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By SARA WARE BASSETT 
With illustrations by A. O. Scott 
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